!∀
#∃∃∃∃%∃∃∃&%∋∋∃%(∋!
)!∗ )!++,(∃&−./0
112/#
#
3
1
4
3
5
0
!6&,&7.(&−%(&∋4 8∃∋(%667
#&∃&∃∃∃∋(667(∃&−∋(6−∃
9
Ballplayer or Barrier Breaker? Branding Through the Seven Statues of Jackie
Robinson
Abstract
Jackie Robinson is the baseball player most frequently depicted by a public statue
within the US, a ubiquity explained by his unique position as barrier-breaker of the
Major League colour bar. Utilising a detailed inspection of statue designs, locations
and inscriptions, and comparisons with wider baseball statuary, Robinson’s
monuments reveal a distinctive set of cultural projections. These are commemorations
distinguished by their age, location away from MLB ballparks, lack of action poses,
and their use of inscriptions consisting of platitudes or discourse on the subject’s
relationship with the statue’s location as opposed to athletic achievement. Such
characteristics indicate that Jackie Robinson statues neither fulfil the typical role of
branding host communities through nostalgia and reflected glory, nor that of
reparations. Instead, Robinson’s statues act as mediators of reflected character and as
tolerance branding. By projecting the softer aspects of Robinson’s personality, and
promoting a local history of racial tolerance as much as Robinson’s triumph over
wider intolerance, the host communities are seeking to identify themselves with these
twin positive attributes. However, in neglecting a visual connection with baseball in
the design and interpretative material, Robinson’s statuary marginalises the
relationship between his ability as a sportsman and his wider social impact.
1
PDF created with pdfFactory Pro trial version www.pdffactory.com
Ballplayer or Barrier Breaker? Branding Through the Seven Statues of Jackie
Robinson
Although the lack of a comprehensive chronology of the wider US public statuary
precludes precise comparison, it is possible that, over the past two decades, a greater
number of figurative sculptures of baseball players have been erected than of any
other occupational grouping. When the town of Bedford, Ohio, unveiled old-time Hall
of Famer and native son Elmer Flick on 25 September 2013, it contributed the 197th in
situ subject-specific member of the North American baseball statuary.1
Sport studies scholars Murray Phillips, Mark O’Neill, and Gary Osmond
caution against interpreting monuments celebrating athletes as purely a celebration of
outstanding sporting achievement.2 Such readings not only ignore the focus that many
statues have on specific ‘moments, events or deeds’, but also their ability to carry
multiple meanings, and to speak as much of the society that produces them as about
their subject.3 Yet, as cultural historians Mike Huggins and Mike O’Mahony note in
their treatise on sport and the arts, historians of sport have been slow to consider the
visual.4 Even beyond this discipline, the literature is largely limited to passing
references or case studies lacking contextual comparisons. Sport-related sculptures
have been cited as marketing tools used to project an aura of success and authenticity
or evoke nostalgia5; objects of pilgrimage for sports tourists6, symbols of national
identity7, political statements of remorse and reconciliation8, public art, visual
biographies9, and as reflecting social trends in mourning notable citizens.10 However
despite, or perhaps because of their ubiquity, there is an absence of scholarly material
focused on specific statues of baseball players.
The fundamental constituent of any figurative statue is subject choice. As of
October 1, 2013, amongst 169 different individuals portrayed across the North
American baseball statuary, Jackie Robinson is the most frequently depicted, with
seven statues. This proliferation is itself worthy of examination. A natural and
previously cited explanation is Robinson’s unique position as the first AfricanAmerican Major Leaguer of the modern age.11 Nonetheless, as Phillips, O’Neill, and
Osmond contend, ‘the way that athletes from marginalized groups have been recalled
in public monuments is a rich vein for investigation’.12
Cultural geographer Richard H. Schein notes that material artefacts have their
own traceable and documentable empirical histories and geographies, and that the
2
PDF created with pdfFactory Pro trial version www.pdffactory.com
cultural landscape they create can be used to “ask questions about societal ideas and
ideals of…American life.”13 By taking up this challenge towards empiricism,
specifically through combining a detailed examination of each Robinson statue with,
for the first time in a study of sport sculpture, a statistical comparison to a wider
statuary, the aims of this study are first, to provide an evidence-based and
contextually-supported demonstration of the distinctive elements of Jackie Robinson
statuary; second, to interpret these differences with respect to the motivations and
ideals of the communities who erected them; and third to assess whether the collective
message of the resulting monuments constitutes an accurate portrayal of Jackie
Robinson, the player and person.
To facilitate the initial stage, we conducted a detailed analysis of each
Robinson statue, and also identified the location, chronology, design and
interpretative material of every other subject-specific baseball player statue sited
within North America. This latter data collection formed part of the wider Sporting
Statues Project conducted by the first and second authors, with the resulting database
made publically available at www.sportingstatues.com as a contextual resource for the
research community.14 A comparison with the complete North American subjectspecific baseball statuary highlights how Jackie Robinson statues stand apart from
those depicting other players. This distinctiveness lies in the relative dilution of
baseball-related elements within figurative sculptures celebrating Robinson. From the
collective evidence Robinson has been memorialized for contributions that
transcended his athletic brilliance, though his statuary is not simply honouring wider
historical significance. Neither does it appear designed or presented in a way that
would reflect motivations of mourning, mimesis, nostalgia branding or reparation.
Instead these selective versions of the presence of the past in the present
collectively reflect their host communities’ dual brand objectives. The first is a desire,
in an adaption of the established behaviour of basking in reflected glory, to bask in
what we would term as Robinson’s ‘reflected character’ through foregrounding his
personal qualities.15 The city, organisation or institution that erected the statue is
stimulating its collective self-esteem through its historical link with Robinson, but
with a statue design and interpretative material that suggests the primary conduit is an
association with specific positive elements of Robinson’s character rather than his
sporting or even social achievements. Second, the majority of the Robinson
commemorations considered in this article were products of - and all seven may be
3
PDF created with pdfFactory Pro trial version www.pdffactory.com
interpreted as fulfilling - an as yet unconsidered raison d’etre for sport statues; that of
what we define as ‘tolerance branding’, whereby the host community enshrines its
positive contribution to the subject’s life, and uses this to pitch a motif of deeply
embedded social morality, and hence distinguish itself from other towns, cities or
organisations. America’s national identity is reconstructed through and by its cultural
landscape.16 As such these are monuments that say as much as about those who have
erected them as about Jackie Robinson. Yet scrutinising these parallel projected
narratives reveals selective versions of the presence of the past in the present, that
diverge from the realities of a great athlete battling to achieve in a segregated society,
and in some cases, misrepresent the host communities’ own histories.
Further, an awkward truth regarding sport as a mediator in race relations that might
have been evoked by a greater focus upon sporting performance in the Robinson
statues - namely that racist behaviour may be tempered by expediency, e.g. a desire to
win or be associated with sporting success, as opposed to a realisation that
discrimination is inherently wrong - is deflected by other elements in these sculpted
storyboards.
Jackie Robinson
Jackie Robinson was the first player to break the unofficial colour bar drawn initially
in white professional baseball from the late nineteenth century.17 American president
Ronald Reagan described Robinson’s life story as ‘striking a mighty blow … for the
American way of life’.18 Though born in Cairo, Georgia, Robinson was just 16
months old when his mother, Mallie Robinson, moved her young family to Pasadena,
California, in search of a better life. If Pasadena did not practice the extremes of
segregation found in his birthplace, Robinson’s childhood was still scarred by poverty
and prejudice, his temper and unwillingness to be subjugated leading to frequent
arguments with an often discriminatory police force, and even a suspended prison
sentence. However outstanding high school athletic achievements provided an escape
of sorts, gaining Robinson local fame and eventually a scholarship to UCLA, where
he became the first and so far only athlete to letter in four sports, specifically
basketball, football, track and field, and baseball. On leaving college early, with the
aim of supporting his family financially, Robinson spent brief spells in semiprofessional football and as an athletic coach for the National Youth Association. The
US Army drafted him in 1942, as the nation entered the Second World War. During
4
PDF created with pdfFactory Pro trial version www.pdffactory.com
his time in the service, Robinson experienced the informal discrimination that existed
within the US military, who denied him the opportunity to play baseball for his camp
team, and entry to the Officer’s Candidate School. He eventually missed active
service due to a combination of injury and a court martial arising from his resistance
to the misapplication of segregationist laws in US military establishments. Acquitted,
but unable to serve abroad with his regiment, the US Army honourably discharged
Robinson in 1944.19
At UCLA, Robinson’s weakest sport was baseball. However, a chance
encounter in the final months of his military career saw him drift into Negro League
baseball. Though he disliked the at times rollicking off-field environment, the lack of
professionalism in the organisation, training and playing schedules, and being
restricted to a segregated league, Robinson enjoyed a productive 1945 season with the
Kansas City Monarchs, culminating in his selection for the Negro League East-West
All-Star game.20 A combination of Robinson’s on-field performances, his college
education and experience of interracial competition, and his personality attracted the
attention of Brooklyn Dodgers’ general manager, Branch Rickey and his scouts. By
this time, Rickey had resolved to unilaterally break the colour bar in Major League
Baseball. Robinson biographer Jules Tygiel suggests a combination of motivations for
Rickey’s crusade, including both Rickey’s claims of ethical beliefs and a desire to
strengthen an ailing Dodgers’ line-up, as well as personal ambition to be seen as an
influential figure outside of baseball. The timing of Rickey’s actions can be attributed
to a desire to be seen to seize the initiative, in the belief that this would make the
success of the project more likely, and the beginnings of changes in wider social
attitudes resulting from World War II.21 In October 1945 the Dodgers announced
Robinson as their first African-American signing. After a successful 1946 season in
the minor leagues with the Montreal Royals, Robinson debuted for the Dodgers in
1947. Overcoming a hostile reception from many opponents, fans and even some
teammates, he produced outstanding performances, allied with a dignified refusal to
be visibly enraged or upset by the abuse he received. At the end of his first season, the
Dodgers claimed the National League pennant and Robinson received the inaugural
Major League Baseball (MLB) Rookie of the Year award.22
A decade in the Major Leagues followed, as did an influx of fellow AfricanAmerican players. Robinson established himself as a consistent hitter, with an
aggressive base-running style that some commentators believe reshaped stereotypical
5
PDF created with pdfFactory Pro trial version www.pdffactory.com
playing strategies, and exhibited supreme athleticism in the field. He played in a
further five National League pennant winning teams and one World Series winning
team, in the All-Star Game on six occasions, and won the National League’s Most
Valuable Player award in 1949, a stellar season in which he also captured the batting
title and was stolen-base champion. His influence increasingly extended beyond the
diamond, primarily as a spokesman for the civil rights movement, but also through
media roles (he became the first African-American baseball analyst on television). In
retirement he was the first African-American to be appointed as vice-president of a
major American corporation, subsequently combining business projects with
campaigning for the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People
(NAACP) and independently lobbying a series of presidential candidates, despite
increasing health complications arising from a long-term diabetic condition. Jackie
Robinson died of a heart attack in 1972. He posthumously received the Medal of
Freedom, the nation’s highest civilian honour, in 1984.23
Baseball Statuary: Motivations, Interpretations and Composition
As a renowned player with a unique place in baseball history and wider social impact,
and given the present ubiquity of baseball statues, it is not surprising that many
monuments to Jackie Robinson have been erected. Sports statues such as Robinson’s
represent something of a contradiction. They are fundamentally homogenous in style,
bound within the confines of realist figurative sculpture, a highly traditional and
conservative art form used to celebrate sporting achievement since the Olympians of
ancient Greece. Almost all are recognisable full-body portrayals of a specific subject
in their athletic prime. Art critics have derided modern sports sculpture as both
populist, unchallenging to the viewer (in that a superficial interpretation can be made
with minimal critical thought), and generally, according to art historians John and
Rebecca McMillen, as ‘bad art’.24 However, within these limited artistic parameters
such monuments creatively re-imagine the sporting past in a myriad of ways that
enhance, modify, or dilute aspects of the subject and moment being captured, and
offer conflicting readings dependent on the viewer’s perspectives, experiences and
beliefs. As such they are flexible ‘story spaces’: a property that lies behind much of
the rapid accumulation of a modern sports statuary within the landscapes of stadium
concourses and, to a lesser extent, urban centres.25
6
PDF created with pdfFactory Pro trial version www.pdffactory.com
Statues possess an inherent multivalence: defined as the capability to hold and
project more than one message.26 An inspection and consideration of sculptural detail,
its placement and accompanying inscription may reveal a hierarchy of narratives,
ranging from the instant appeal of the image of a successful and glamorous subject to
deeper questions regarding why certain elements of their life story are foregrounded,
and others not. Erecting a statue in a location to which many viewers return
repeatedly, for example, a sports stadium, also gives it the potential to offer changing
meanings parallel to the temporal development of social ideals, the viewers’ own life
experiences and knowledge of the statue subject, or in some cases the subject’s career
itself.27
Further, the visibility of a sports statue, enhanced by a physical presence that
takes them beyond two-dimensional artistic genres, confers an instant yet durable
potency: once witnessed an image is hard to ‘unsee’.28 Their capacity to offer the
simultaneous implementation of multiple contemporary marketing strategies,
prominently targeted at a variety of fan or customer demographics, has made them an
ideal branding tool for modern sports organisations and cities.
For example, the nostalgic sentiments evoked in fans when reminded of their
childhood heroes become a source of pleasure and inspiration to pilgrimage to the
place where they witnessed them in action, and has been shown to deepen their
attachment and ultimately forge an allegiance to a sports organisation.29 The
aforementioned growth in statue numbers coincides with the construction of retroinfluenced ballparks which, by referencing a ‘better past’ through nostalgic branding,
aim to counterbalance fans’ disenchantment with negative aspects of the modern
game.30 Concerns over wage inflation, the players’ strike of 1994 and steroid abuse
are deflected or marginalised through the re-imagining of heroic figures from a
mythical ‘golden era’.
The benefits of ‘retrofication’ stretch beyond distracting from the degraded
image of the contemporary baseball player and wider baseball industry. Major
stadiums and modern cities are overtly commercial landscapes, theatres of
consumption that aim to simultaneously provide comfort, navigability, and cost
minimisation. The challenge faced by architects and marketers is that combining these
attributes necessitates the use of efficient, rationalised systems and processes, in turn
creating what sociologist George Ritzer describes as a homogenised, non-authentic
‘McDonaldised’ environment devoid of identity and meaning, a ‘disenchanted
7
PDF created with pdfFactory Pro trial version www.pdffactory.com
homeliness’ disliked by fans and the wider public. As part of a re-enchantment
strategy of recreating or reinventing the past, statues can be used as mimetic tools,
highlighting distinctive elements or moments of a city’s or sport organisation’s
cultural history.31
The potential appeal of a statue is not limited to older fans who may
experience heightened nostalgia via the subject, or to those seeking a more
aesthetically pleasing stadium environment. Even where the hero depicted performed
either in an era beyond living memory, or too recently to generate much nostalgic
sentiment, at least at the time of unveiling (for example, the statue of basketball star
Michael Jordan, erected in Chicago in the year following his initial announcement of
retirement32), the visual representation of his moment of triumph or superior skills,
enhanced by a congratulatory inscription, reflects success upon his club or city. As
such, many sports statues can be seen as the products of the widely recognised
phenomenon of ‘basking in reflected glory’, or ‘BIRGing’ - a device originally
outlined by social psychologist Robert Cialdini for enhancing self-esteem and
projecting oneself as a successful individual by association with success, - being
implemented at the organisational level.33 This in turn presents a ‘second-hand’
opportunity for individual fans or sports tourists to BIRG by posing by and having
their photo taken alongside the statue. Sports psychologists Daniel Wann and Nyla
Branscombe note that fans’ identification with their team is positively associated with
basking in the reflected glory of that team and its players.34
The primary motivation behind a sports statue may stretch beyond commercial
imperatives and focus upon wider social issues. The monument dedicated to
Olympians Tommy Smith and John Carlos showcases how statues have been used as
reparations in the ongoing racial struggles in American history. Erected at San Jose
State University where both athletes trained prior to their medal-winning sprints of
1968, it depicts their ‘Black Power’ salute on the podium, a civil rights statement that
resulted in widespread criticism and the subsequent marginalisation of their athletic
achievement.35 Elsewhere sport statues have been erected to evoke wider
commemorative themes. The ‘friendly fire’ death of Arizona Cardinals’ Pat Tillman,
who sacrificed his gridiron career for military service, is marked at his former home
stadium in Phoenix, Arizona, by a controversial war memorial casting Tillman not in
military fatigues but in his football uniform.36
8
PDF created with pdfFactory Pro trial version www.pdffactory.com
The primacy of commercial motivations is supported by examining the profile
of the existing baseball statuary. The complete roster of 197 subject-specific baseball
statues currently in place, comprised mainly of professional players (74%) with
founders/owners/executives (12%), managers (7%), broadcasters (4%), junior players
(2%) and fans (1%) making up the rest of the ‘team’, are primarily located at MLB or
Minor League ballparks (72% of statues).37 Such ballpark-sited statues were almost
all funded by the host ballclubs, through their ownership groups or their commercial
sponsors. The career time-frame of subjects depicted is what would be expected from
artefacts used to evoke nostalgia, with the majority of baseball player statues having
been unveiled within 30-40 years of the subject’s career mid-point.38 Fifty-five
percent of playing subjects were alive at the time their statue was unveiled.
Of the 145 statues featuring professional players (116 hitters, 29 pitchers),
72% portray playing action; 15% employ a posed, non-playing stance (e.g. Babe Ruth
in Baltimore), 6% depict a triumphant moment (e.g. Bill Mazeroski completing his
World Series winning homer in Pittsburgh), and 7% capture non-playing interactions
between players and fans (e.g. Ted Williams placing a cap on a sick child in Boston).
Ethnically, 20% of all subject specific statues portrayed baseball icons of AfricanAmerican heritage, including twelve primarily Negro League players or executives.
Another 10% represent baseball’s Latin American contingent. Sixty-four percent are
members of the National Baseball Hall of Fame. All but fourteen of the statues were
erected after 1990, and 68% since 2000.
<Figure 1 here>
Placing Robinson’s seven statues, the first dating from 1985, within this
chronology (Figure 1) shows them to have largely preceded the post-millennium surge
in construction, a temporal location hinting at a distinct motivation and message, since
they are unlikely to have been products of a diffusing marketing innovation.
Furthermore, we undertook a detailed investigation, of Robinson’s statues, comparing
and contrasting them to the wider baseball statuary within the framework provided by
a tripartite dissection of ‘sites of meaning’.39 This classification breaks down the
elements that make up the form and narrative of each statue into first, the strongly
linked facets of location and statue project promoter (i.e. the instigators and funders of
each statue project); second, the resulting visual image; and third, the interpretative
9
PDF created with pdfFactory Pro trial version www.pdffactory.com
material provided alongside each statue. Our comparison reveals substantial and
important differences between Robinson’s monuments and the figurative sculptures
devoted to other baseball players summarised above.
A Catalogue of Jackie Robinson Statuary
Jackie Robinson Stadium, UCLA, unveiled April 27, 1985
Following Jackie Robinson’s death in 1972, Mack Robinson unsuccessfully petitioned
the City of Pasadena authorities to erect a statue of his sibling.40 Subsequently
forming a non-profit organization to fundraise, Mack Robinson found an alternative
site adjacent to the UCLA ballpark in Santa Monica. UCLA opened the facility in
1981 and named it after Jackie Robinson, who had chosen to study at UCLA in part
due to the racist admission policies of competing institutions such as the University of
Southern California and Stanford University.41 UCLA not only accepted AfricanAmerican students but selected athletic teams based on ability alone.42 The statue
(Figure 2), the only sports-related public artwork of then Pasadena-based sculptor
Richard Ellis, is based upon a photograph of Jackie Robinson in a Dodgers uniform,
kneeling with bat tucked under his right shoulder.43 It is mounted on a three-foot high
plinth (the platform or pedestal on to which a statue or other exhibit is often fixed, so
as to give elevation and prominence), which is fronted by a prominent plaque.
<Figure 2 here >
Mack Robinson composed the plaque inscription, which names the subject, sculptor,
and credits Mack himself - but ignores his brother’s athletic achievements in favour of
a simple tribute:44
IN MEMORY OF JACK ROOSEVELT ROBINSON. 1919 – 1972.
THE NAME. THE LEGEND. THE MAN.
MACK ROBINSON – FOUNDER. RICHARD H. ELLIS - SCULPTOR
The statue is set back from the playing area, and partially concealed behind a line of
trees, giving a sense of physical disconnection from the modest college ballpark.45
10
PDF created with pdfFactory Pro trial version www.pdffactory.com
Olympic Stadium, Montreal, unveiled May 16, 1987
Jackie Robinson’s season with the Montreal Royals, the Dodgers’ farm team was a
strategic move by owner Branch Rickey.46 By placing Robinson in a city without
formal racial segregation and away from the US media spotlight, Rickey aimed to
smooth Robinson’s passage into Major League baseball. At the time and
subsequently, Jackie Robinson and his wife Rachel publicly extolled the virtues of
Montreal.47 In turn, his performances helped the Royals to win the 1946 International
League and the Junior World Series (an inter-league challenge series contested by the
winners of the strongest minor leagues), making him a hugely popular figure in the
city.
On August 12, 1986, the mayor of Montreal announced that a statue of
Robinson would be erected at the site of the former Royals’ stadium, DeLorimier
Downs. The Montreal city authorities promoted the project, with financial
contributions from the Montreal Expos MLB franchise and its owner, liquor magnate
Charles Bronfman.48 Local artist Jules Lasalle sculpted the statue (Figure 3).49 The
project committee gave Lasalle a remit requesting that children feature in the statue
because, as Lasalle recalls, ‘Jackie Robinson was seen as a great example to children
in the way that he behaved and changed society.’ Lasalle and Montreal Botanic
Gardens architect Carlos Martinez developed a fictional image in which a smiling
Robinson, in Royals’ home uniform, is passing a baseball to two children.50 The child
receiving the ball has Caucasian features, whilst the other, placed just behind with his
left arm resting on the shoulder of the first child, is discernibly of African-Canadian
heritage.51 This intimate pose posits the children as close friends despite their
differing racial identity.
<Figure 3 here>
The organising committee chose to relocate the statue to the Olympic Stadium,
then home of the Montreal Expos, due to the deterioration of the area around
DeLorimier Downs.52 It stands atop a pentagonal concave box plinth, to which is
affixed a bronze plaque. The inscription (in French) translates as:
Jackie Robinson. 1919-1972. In the minds of Montrealers, Jackie Robinson will
forever remain a symbol of excellence, courage and perseverance. The first
11
PDF created with pdfFactory Pro trial version www.pdffactory.com
coloured player to play in the major leagues, he bestowed his glory to his own and
to all of baseball and earned an important place among baseball's immortals. This
monument was inaugurated on May 16, 1987 by Mrs. Rachel Robinson, widow of
Jackie Robinson, in the presence of municipal authorities from the city of Montreal
and of the Expos Ltd. baseball club.
Although the Expos franchise moved to Washington, DC (as the Nationals) in 2005,
the statue remains, emphasising the primacy of location and object as civic rather than
baseball-specific artefacts.
Jackie Robinson Ballpark, Daytona Beach, September 15, 1990
Robinson’s first game within organised baseball, an exhibition between the Royals
and parent club the Brooklyn Dodgers, took place in Daytona Beach, Florida, on
March 17, 1946. Further games scheduled for Savannah, Georgia, Richmond, Virginia
and Jacksonville, Florida (the Dodgers’ traditional Spring Training venue) were
cancelled when the local authorities refused to allow Robinson to play, citing
segregation laws. A game in nearby Sanford, Florida, ended with the local Chief of
Police ordering the Royals’ manager to remove Robinson or risk prosecution.53
However, Daytona was a progressive city in regards to race relations compared to
most Southern towns. Rickey had assurances from city leaders that Robinson would
be welcomed.54 As historian Chris Lamb describes in his account of Robinson’s first
Spring Training, “Blacks lived a second-class existence there versus the third-class
existence they lived everywhere in the South”.55 This was in part due to economic
reasons: as a tourist resort, Daytona wanted (and needed) to attract white Northerners.
Further, the city contained influential black figures. Businessman and community
leader Joe Harris, , known as ‘The Negro mayor of Daytona Beach’, registered black
voters, thus giving them potential influence. Relatively good relations existed between
the city’s white administration and Mary McLeod Bethune, a Daytona resident and a
nationally powerful spokesperson within the black community.56
In 1989 a committee of local politicians and businessmen formed to organise
the erection of a statue of Jackie Robinson at Daytona City Island ballpark, which was
also to be renamed to honour Robinson and its hosting of this historic game.57 Florida
State Senator Ed Dunn, vice-chairman of the statue committee, stated ‘This is more
than just a statue. This will be a statement for our community’s excellent past
12
PDF created with pdfFactory Pro trial version www.pdffactory.com
achievements in race relations, how we deal with race relations in the future, help us
rally around programs for our youth, cause a total renovation of our ballpark, and
return professional baseball to Daytona Beach.’58 They decided to commission a copy
of the statue in Montreal. As Suzanne Kuehn, the Daytona City Redevelopment
Officer of the time recalls, they hoped to reduce costs and accelerate the project,
especially since Rachel Robinson ‘had already approved this statue’.59 They achieved
their financial target of $80,000 through fundraising events and donations.60 Lasalle
made two minor alterations to the sculpture prior to casting: changing Robinson’s
uniform to the road jersey to reflect what Robinson would have worn in his first
game, and adjusting what he (Lasalle) believed to be a pigeon-toed stance.61
<Figure 4 here>
Unveiled in September 1990, the statue is backed by a convex wall that
provides a backdrop for floodlighting (Figure 4). Three plaques honour project donors
and committee members, with a fourth highlighting the significance of the ballpark
and Daytona:
This statue was dedicated September 15, 1990, by Rachel Robinson. Formerly
known as City Island Ball Park, this is the site of the first racially integrated Spring
Training game which was played on March 17, 1946 between the Brooklyn
Dodgers and Montreal Royals. Hall of Fame legend Jackie Robinson played for
Montreal, the Brooklyn farm team, thus marking an historic event in the struggle
to achieve equality of opportunity in modern major league baseball. The Daytona
Beach community is proud to have hosted that legendary game and spring training,
both of which are viewed as milestones in the history of sports and civil rights.
Nine years later, city officials hired Darden Jenkins, president of community group
Friends of Daytona Baseball, to facilitate a State Historic Preservation grant in
renovating the deteriorating ballpark. The group expanded upon the stadium
restoration, erecting plaques that describe the career of Robinson and other
breakthrough African-American athletes or public figures, to form a ‘Barrier Breakers
Walk of Fame’.
<Figure 5 here>
13
PDF created with pdfFactory Pro trial version www.pdffactory.com
Subjects inducted, such as tennis player Althea Gibson (Figure 5) and hockey star
Willie O’Ree, did not require connections to either Daytona or baseball, but were
grouped with Robinson through having led integration in their sport or walk of life.
The inscriptions on the new plaques specifically referenced this element of their
careers.62
Journal Square, Jersey City, February 26, 1998
Robinson’s performances in spring training in 1946 cemented his place in the Royals’
squad. His initial competitive assignment was a road trip to the Jersey City Giants.
This first integrated competitive regular season ballgame of the twentieth century is
commemorated by a statue of Robinson in Journal Square, Jersey City (Figure 6).
<Figure 6 here>
Artist Susan Wagner created the statue.63 Wagner recalled the commissioning
committee, having asked her to choose from five photographs on which to base the
statue design, was ‘delighted’ when she chose the image ultimately sculpted.64 It
recreates a triumphant moment, either celebrating an ‘out’ or a team success.
Robinson, whom Wagner depicted leaping with arms aloft, a baseball glove on one
hand (though without a ball), wears an understated look of pleasure. Wagner
portrayed Robinson dressed in a Dodgers uniform, even though in the aforementioned
game he was representing Montreal Royals. The plaque beneath reads:
"A life is not important except for the impact it has on other lives."
JACK ROOSEVELT ROBINSON.
1919-1972.
In 1946, Jack Roosevelt Robinson, the first African-American to break the color
barrier in Major League Baseball, played in his first minor league game in Jersey
City, New Jersey. This statue, sculpted by Susan Wagner, commemorates that
historic event. Dedicated Wednesday, February 25, 1998.
Rachel Robinson, Founder, Jackie Robinson Foundation. Leonard S. Coleman Jr,
Chair, Jackie Robinson Foundation. Christine Todd Whitman, Governor of New
Jersey.
14
PDF created with pdfFactory Pro trial version www.pdffactory.com
SPONSORS The City of Jersey City Bret Schundler Mayor, The Lewis M.
Eisenberg Family, The First Union Foundation, Jeremy Jacobs Delaware North,
John J. McMullen Norton Lilly, James S. Regan, The Shumann Fund for New
Jersey.
Though funded by a combination of the City of Jersey Mayor’s Fund and private
donors, the Mayor’s office organised the project in conjunction with the Jackie
Robinson Foundation. The latter is a not–for–profit organization founded in 1973, just
a year after Jackie Robinson’s death, by his widow Rachel, with the aim of
perpetuating her husband’s memory through the advancement of education among
under-served populations.65
Jackie Robinson Park of Fame, Stamford, Connecticut, October 15, 1999
In 1955, with Robinson’s career and earnings having burgeoned, the Robinson family
relocated to New England. The move was not without difficulty. Houses were
withdrawn from the market, viewings refused, and Connecticut real estate agencies
were obstructive, with racial motives suspected in each case. After the press revealed
local real estate colour barriers in a newspaper article, civic and church leaders in
Stamford smoothed the situation and the family settled in the area.66
In the late-1990s, a community group led by John and Cecelia DaRosa
initiated a campaign to raise a statue to Stamford’s most illustrious former resident.
Cecelia DaRosa recalls driving past a run-down West End park named after Robinson
and finding it devoid of any means of telling his story. She felt that a statue would be
appropriate as a constant reminder of what Robinson ‘stood for … he stood for
courage, he stood for confidence’.67 Fundraising events, civic support, and private
donations enabled the group to meet the required $150,000.68
The late African-American artist Maceo Jeffries, the only non-white sculptor
to create a Robinson statue, sculpted the monument, which portrays Robinson in his
Dodgers uniform preparing to hit (Figure 7).69 Jeffries presents a bulky Robinson,
suggesting that a late career image supplied inspiration. Robinson is smiling despite
the competitive moment depicted.
<Figure 7 here>
15
PDF created with pdfFactory Pro trial version www.pdffactory.com
It stands upon a five-foot stone pedestal shaped to look like a baseball bat
handle.70 According to the sculptor, the themes of the statue are ‘perseverance,
courage and confidence’. These words are engraved around the plinth.71 Ironically,
given DeRosa’s aims, there is no other interpretative material.
Cyclone Park, Coney Island, New York, November 1, 2005
The Brooklyn statue (Figure 8), as much a monument to teammate Pee Wee Reese as
to Robinson, is a work of faction (that is, a work comprised of elements of fact and
fiction) rather than either an entirely fictional, or a ‘flashbulb memory’ design. It
draws inspiration from an incident early in Robinson’s career. Heckled by home
supporters during a road game, Robinson received support from Reese, the Dodgers’
captain and a native Southerner, who walked across from shortstop and stood beside
Robinson at first base. However, in spite of the widely mythologised tale that this
incident took place in Cincinnati during the 1947 season, and that Reese placed his
arm upon Robinson’s shoulder as portrayed by the statue, no definitive contemporary
reporting or photographic evidence exists of either Reese’s precise gesture or a
specific date and location.72 Robinson contested both the date and location, with his
1960 autobiography placing the incident in Boston in 1948.73 Pitcher Carl Erskine,
who did not join the Dodgers until 1948, claimed to have witnessed the moment.74
The extent to which fact and fiction have combined to pervade popular consciousness
extends beyond this statue; the trailer for 42, a Robinson biopic released in 2013,
includes Reese and Robinson in the same pose whilst perpetuating the mythology that
the event occurred in Cincinnati in 1947.75
<Figure 8 here>
The statue project began in 1999, soon after the death of Reese. New York
journalists Stan Isaacs and Jack Newfield were the first to propose that a statue be
erected to mark the moment described. New York mayor Rudolph Giuliani’s office
picked up their appeal. Giuliani created a fundraising committee and donated towards
the cost himself. The September 11 2001 terrorist attack interrupted progress on the
project, with momentum re-established in 2003 by incoming Mayor Michael
Bloomberg. They initially chose a location close to the Dodgers’ former ballpark,
Ebbets Field, but the deterioration of that neighbourhood prompted a change of plan,
16
PDF created with pdfFactory Pro trial version www.pdffactory.com
with the statue eventually sited at Cyclone Park, Coney Island, home of Brooklyn’s
minor league Cyclones. Over 110 donations to cover the reported cost of $200,000 for
the statue design, production and adjacent landscaping were received from individuals
and businesses, including the New York Mets and New York Yankees.
Sculptor William Behrends depicts Robinson and Reese side by side, with
Reese placing his hand on Robinson’s shoulder.76 The hexagonal plinth is inscribed
with the popular narrative of the incident depicted, specific words picked out in bolder
font. A path leads to, and continues around the plinth, inviting the viewer to read the
inscription:
THIS MONUMENT HONORS JACKIE ROBINSON AND PEE WEE REESE:
TEAMMATES, FRIENDS, AND MEN OF COURAGE AND CONVICTION.
ROBINSON BROKE THE COLOR BARRIER IN MAJOR LEAGUE
BASEBALL, REESE SUPPORTED HIM, AND TOGETHER THEY MADE
HISTORY. IN MAY 1947, ON CINCINNATI'S CROSLEY FIELD, ROBINSON
ENDURED RACIST TAUNTS, JEERS, AND DEATH THREATS THAT
WOULD HAVE BROKEN THE SPIRIT OF A LESSER MAN. REESE,
CAPTAIN OF THE BROOKLYN DODGERS, WALKED OVER TO HIS
TEAMMATE ROBINSON AND STOOD BY HIS SIDE, SILENCING THE
TAUNTS OF THE CROWD. THIS SIMPLE GESTURE CHALLENGED
PREJUDICE AND CREATED A POWERFUL AND ENDURING
FRIENDSHIP.
BORN 1919 CAIRO, GEORGIA - DIED 1972, STAMFORD, CONNECTICUT
JACKIE ROOSEVELT ROBINSON
ON APRIL 15, 1947 ROBINSON FIRST TOOK THE FIELD FOR THE
BROOKLYN DODGERS, BREAKING THE COLOR BARRIER IN MAJOR
LEAGUE BASEBALL. IN THE FACE OF HOSTILITY, HE REMAINED
STEADFAST, WINNING HIS WAY INTO THE HALL OF FAME AND THE
HEARTS OF BASEBALL FANS. ROBINSON WAS A CHAMPION OF THE
GAME OF BASEBALL, OF JUSTICE, AND OF CIVIL RIGHTS.
BORN 1918 EKRON, KENTUCKY - DIED 1999 LOUISVILLE, KENTUCKY
HAROLD HENRY REESE
17
PDF created with pdfFactory Pro trial version www.pdffactory.com
KNOWN AS PEE WEE, REESE WAS CAPTAIN OF THE BROOKLYN
DODGERS DURING THE LATE 1940S AND THE EARLY 1950S. HE
RISKED HIS CAREER WHEN HE STOOD BY JACKIE ROBINSON
AGAINST PREJUDICED FANS AND FELLOW PLAYERS. WITH THIS ACT
OF DEFIANCE, THE HALL OF FAME SHORTSTOP BECAME A
POWERFUL AND INFLUENTIAL MODEL OF TRUE HUMANITY.
CITY OF NEW YORK, PARKS & RECREATION. MICHAEL H.
BLOOMBERG, MAYOR. ADRIAN BENEPE, COMMISSIONER. THE
MAYOR'S FUND TO ADVANCE NEW YORK CITY. WILLIAM BEHRENDS,
SCULPTOR, 2005.
National Baseball Hall of Fame, Cooperstown, November 1, 2008
Robinson is the centre point of a triptych (an artwork containing three elements)
entitled ‘Character and Courage’ (Figure 9), unveiled in 2008 at the National Baseball
Hall of Fame and Museum (NBHOFM). He is flanked by fellow Hall of Famers Lou
Gehrig and Roberto Clemente. Each stands in a dignified, posed composition;
Clemente and Gehrig grasp bats, whilst Robinson clasps his hands behind his back.
Robinson wears a pensive smile, Gehrig a look of contentment, Clemente exudes
determination. The sculptor was the late Stanley Bleifield, who had previously created
statues of Satchel Paige, Roy Campanella and Johnny Podres for the NBHOFM.
<Figure 9 here>
Bob Crotty, an independent benefactor who has established his own baseball
museum in Cincinnati, Ohio, funded this sculptural composition. A wealthy laundry
magnate, Crottyhas also created the Character and Courage Foundation charity,
supporting sick or impoverished children.77 He sees these three players as
inspirational in the way they each overcame obstacles. Gehrig’s life was bookended
by a deprived childhood and his early death from a muscle-wasting disease. As one of
the first Latin American major league players, Clemente conquered prejudice as well
as giving selflessly to charity. He died in a plane crash whilst shuttling humanitarian
aid to earthquake victims in Nicaragua. Both Gehrig and Clemente finished their
careers with outstanding playing records.78
18
PDF created with pdfFactory Pro trial version www.pdffactory.com
The statues stand in the NBHOFM entrance hall, each set on a small 2 inch
thick bronze base. A freestanding plaque, its inscription composed by the
NBHOFM79, reads:
CHARACTER AND COURAGE. Cast bronze by Stanley Bleifeld, 2008.
Becoming a Hall of Famer takes more than just a great baseball career. Off-thefield challenges – and how those challenges are met – reveal an inner character
that serves men and women throughout their lives. The life experiences of Lou
Gehrig, Jackie Robinson, and Roberto Clemente stand out above all. Each faced
personal and social obstacles with strength and dignity that set an example of
character and courage for all others to follow. Made possible through a generous
donation by Robert Crotty.
Standing Apart? Collective Themes and Contextual Comparisons of Robinson
Statue Projects and Locations
The promotion processes, locations and location types of each of Robinson’s statues,
highlight a collective incongruity with the wider baseball statuary. Two thirds of
baseball statues boast a completely different genesis to any of Robinson’s, having
been organised and funded by a Major League franchise or their commercial sponsors,
and erected at that franchise’s ballpark. An increase in MLB ballpark-located statues
has been the primary driver behind the recent rapid growth in the baseball statuary.
Though the Montreal Expos, New York Mets, New York Yankees and Los Angeles
Dodgers each contributed towards the costs of one or more of the Robinson icons, an
MLB franchise has not yet taken on the role of primary promoter, financer and host of
a specific Jackie Robinson statue.
It is not the case that Major League Baseball currently fails to honour
Robinson at its ballparks; just that statuary are not the chosen form of iconography.
For example an annual Jackie Robinson Day has been celebrated since 2004, on
which every player wears 42. Robinson’s jersey number is now ‘retired‘ by each
franchise and is prominently displayed at each ballpark alongside the franchise’s
‘own’ retired uniform numbers. The New York Mets, who have staked a claim to the
heritage of Robinson’s Brooklyn Dodgers through the design of their Citi Field
ballpark, commemorate Robinson with a large three-dimensional number 42 erected
inside the reception area, itself named Jackie Robinson Plaza.80 However, at present,
19
PDF created with pdfFactory Pro trial version www.pdffactory.com
there are no figurative sculptures of Robinson located at a current MLB ballpark or
even at a now-defunct MLB ballpark that was in use during Robinson’s career.
This absence can be explained by a combination of factors. First, in the
context of Robinson’s life story, monuments dedicated to him highlight the past
exclusion of African-American players from Major League baseball. This is not a
history suited to the nostalgic reminisce or sense of authenticity that stadium-sited
statues typically aspire to evoke. Second, the use of a statue by a single franchise
would proclaim ownership of the Robinson story, and also, given the prejudice
Robinson initially faced, mark that franchise as taking responsibility for such
reparations (and thus admitting culpability, while simultaneously basking in the
reflected glory of their own progressiveness: a confused message at best). Whilst
franchises actively honour Robinson, this is done in ways that are less nostalgic and
less personal than a sculpted image; for example, the symbolic display of the retired
number 42 by all franchises. By this unified response, joint responsibility is taken for
the past segregation of baseball. To the uninformed, Robinson’s uniform number
invites enquiry, to the knowledgeable it is a targeted mark of respect. A number
makes no franchise-specific claim on ownership in the way that a uniform would.
Through his number Robinson becomes a member of every team, celebrated by all,
and a universal panacea.
An alternative, circumstantial explanation for the absence of Robinson statues
from MLB ballparks lies in the identity of the franchise with the strongest claim on
Robinson’s story, and hence most likely to erect a statue of him. In 1957, the year
after Robinson’s retirement, the Dodgers announced their relocation from Brooklyn to
Los Angeles. In common with other franchises that have transferred between cities,
the Dodgers have not erected statues of players primarily connected with their original
incarnation; there would be no benefit in reminding West Coast fans of their East
Coast heritage.81
Baseball statues sited away from Major League ballparks have accumulated
more sedately, due to the need to fundraise, the search for a suitable location, and the
existence of competing candidates from all walks of life for depiction in figurative
public art. When baseball statues have appeared in civic locations, they are typically
honouring ‘native sons’. Hence Jackie Robinson’s statuary has a very different sociogeographic profile compared to that of other baseball players, in its dislocation not
only from current Major League ballparks but also his birthplace.
20
PDF created with pdfFactory Pro trial version www.pdffactory.com
The absence of a Robinson statue from his birthplace is primarily an artefact
of his family history. Jackie Robinson has a relatively weak personal connection with
Cairo, Georgia, having left with his mother and siblings whilst still an infant. Despite
this, in 1997 Robinson’s third-cousin Linda Walden created a foundation with aims
that included the raising of a Jackie Robinson statue in Cairo. These plans received a
mixed reception. Political and personal opposition was voiced, some of which was
racially motivated. Walden claims to have been threatened by Ku Klux Klan members
in 1997, shortly after launching the statue appeal - and to have received intimidating
phone calls in the following years. Other Cairo citizens cited their discomfort with the
project as being connected to Robinson only a circumstantial bond with his birthplace,
raising issues of whether Robinson deserved to be honoured by Cairo, or indeed
whether Cairo had the right to place a claim on the Robinson legacy. The county
commission rejected the proposal, instead installing a monument to Confederate
soldiers on the courthouse site earmarked by Walden.82
Pasadena, where Robinson spent his childhood, would be the appropriate site
for a ‘hometown’ statue, and indeed a public monument was eventually constructed
there. However, this followed the initial resistance of the Pasadena city authorities,
who were unable to offer a site for the first (Mack Robinson-promoted) Jackie
Robinson statue, perhaps in part due to Robinson’s stated dislike of the city based on
the prejudice he experienced there whilst growing up.83 The giant busts of Mack and
Jackie Robinson erected in Pasadena acknowledge Jackie’s discomfort with his
childhood experiences; sculptor Ralph Hemrick deliberately pitched Jackie’s head at a
right-angle to Mack’s, looking eastwards away from the city, as a reflection on his
desire to leave.84
A distinction from the wider baseball statuary is not only apparent in where
Jackie Robinson statues are not found, but also in where they are. Though
commemoration in Pasadena was delayed, this is overshadowed by the
disproportionate development (compared to the wider statuary) of Robinson statues in
other locations that are not MLB ballparks. Two of Robinson’s statues stand in widely
contested civic spaces with no visible connection to baseball, spaces that are subject
to broader cultural and political scrutiny, and where recognition carries a wider social
meaning. A stadium provides both a publically accessible and context specific setting
for a statue of a sportsperson, and is often the home territory of the statue promoter or
funder, be that a sports organisation or its fans. Conversely the subject of a statue
21
PDF created with pdfFactory Pro trial version www.pdffactory.com
erected in the centre of a town or city is being displayed to the general public, not just
to sports aficionados.85 To be sited there, a sportsman typically needs to have
contributed to wider society - and has also to ‘compete’ against potential statue
subjects from all walks of life for that honour; most notably politicians (whose ‘home
stadia’ could be interpreted as civic spaces); and military figures (whose ‘home
stadia’, the battlefield, is most often too remote to place a public statue in). For
instance, a review of figurative statues located in Philadelphia, a city with an
extensive and frequently updated online public art database, found 9 statues of
specific sportspeople, of which all but two (Roberto Clemente, and Olympic rower
John B. Kelly) were placed in sports venue precincts. The city comparatively bristles
with statues of political figures (14) and military personnel (19), all in civic spaces.86
Even where Robinson statues have been erected at baseball-related locations, such as
minor league stadia or the NBHOFM, the statue projects themselves have been
promoted by committed individuals (Stamford, Cooperstown, UCLA, Jersey City) or
have drawn momentum and harnessed organisational expertise from local
governments (Montreal, Brooklyn, Daytona, Jersey City again). Funding has been
raised largely through popular appeals, municipal budgets, or donations from wealthy
benefactors - or from a combination of all three of those sources. Robinson’s statues
have resulted from community projects, not baseball organisations.
Most notably, the communities that have raised statuary in honour of
Robinson are those in which welcomed him in his lifetime, be it his college career at
UCLA, his season in Montreal, or his inauguration into the NBHOF. In five locations
racial segregation was prohibited, although segregated spaces remained the norm.
Cities that have erected Robinson statues are those which, at the time of his career,
would have seen themselves, and, pertinently, been happy to have been seen as being
advanced in terms of racial integration even if this did not reflect reality.
Montreal portrayed itself as a haven; at the time of Robinson’s signing, Le
Canada stated that the treatment Robinson could expect in Montreal would show it to
be ‘the most democratic place in the world.’87 UCLA was Robinson’s choice of
college in part due to the counterpoint it offered to the racist admissions policies of
more prestigious institutions. Brooklyn, a diverse ethnic community, was where
Robinson played and was surrounded by baseball fans and friends; he also lived
within New York for the early years of his career. Branch Rickey noted that
representing Montreal or Brooklyn would give an African-American player the
22
PDF created with pdfFactory Pro trial version www.pdffactory.com
chance to break into organised baseball.88 When the Robinsons decided to make their
home in New England, prominent residents of Stamford were proactive in attracting
and welcoming the family.89 The NBHOF elected Robinson on the first ballot in his
first year of eligibility – he therefore became the first African-American inductee,
despite his suggestion that he would not be chosen.90 The only statue erected ‘below’
the ‘Jim Crow Line’, which demarcated Southern states with segregationist policies
enshrined in law codes, is in Daytona Beach. Rickey chose Daytona Beach for the
Dodgers’ 1946 Spring Training “because of the city’s reputation for racial
moderation.”91
So whilst the wider baseball statuary clusters around ballparks across the US,
the development of Robinson’s monuments maps on to a geographic template of
relatively racially progressive 1940’s North America.
Standing Out From the Crowd? Collective Themes and Contextual Comparisons of
Robinson Statue Designs
Though monuments can be read in multiple ways, the collective visual image that the
statues of Jackie Robinson present is not primarily one honouring playing skill, or
strength and determination in the application of sporting prowess. Though identifiable
as a baseball player by his uniform, just two statues feature a bat, and only the
Stamford portrayal depicts playing action. Three of the seven statues portray nonplaying interactions with players or fans, two renditions are posed and one captures a
triumphant moment.
Therefore, in terms of their design, Robinson’s statues stand in marked
contrast to the wider baseball statuary, in which 72% of player statues portray playing
action. For the vast majority of sportsmen, the primary reason to celebrate their life
through statuary will be directly linked to their onfield successes and the pleasure they
gave to fans. Robinson is more likely to be depicted in non-playing poses than players
of colour who followed him into the major leagues, simply due to his unique
significance as the ‘first’, and his resulting impact beyond the diamond. However, a
distinction in the form of the Robinson statuary remains in comparison even with a
nuanced contextual subsample of his temporal and circumstantial barrier-breaking
contemporaries. Roberto Clemente, juxtaposed with Robinson in the aforementioned
‘Character and Courage’ statue, is otherwise depicted in action or celebrating baseball
achievement. At both PNC Park, Pittsburgh and Branch Brook Park, Newark,
23
PDF created with pdfFactory Pro trial version www.pdffactory.com
Clemente is portrayed setting off for first base having struck the ball into the far
distance; in the yard of a school named in his honour in Philadelphia, a sculpture
images the follow through of a mighty blow; and in Roberto Clemente State Park,
New York, a flashbulb memory design captures Clemente celebrating his 3000th
career hit.92 Larry Doby, the first African-American to play in the American League,
debuted just 3 months after Robinson. A statue of Doby, poised ready to hit, has stood
in Larry Doby Field, Paterson, New Jersey since 2002. The plaque speaks primarily of
his career statistics.93 Satchel Paige, an outstanding pitcher who broke into the Major
Leagues at the tail end of a lengthy Negro League career, is the subject of a statue
erected in 2006 by the NBHOFM to honour Negro League baseball. Paige is sculpted
coiled to unleash his slingshot pitch.94
Similarly, barrier-breaking athletes from other sports are usually portrayed in
action. Statues of Althea Gibson (Newark, 2012) and Jack Johnson (Galveston, Texas,
2012), respectively show their subjects competing in tennis and boxing. A relief of
Marshall Taylor (Worcester, Massachusetts, 2008) features ‘Major’ posed with his
bicycle, with an image of him in racing action at the rear of the monument
supplemented by a plaque that lists his cycling achievements.95 By their designs, these
statues collectively foreground athletic prowess, power, spectacle and sporting
achievement. The Robinson statues in Montreal and Daytona bear a striking similarity
to the statue of breakthrough African-American tennis player Arthur Ashe in
Richmond, Virginia, which depicts children of different races greeting him.96
However even Ashe wields a tennis racket when greeting his young fans, and the
Richmond-sited statue depicting Ashe is complemented by an action portrayal erected
at US Open Tennis Championship venue Flushing Meadows. Amongst both baseball
and more general sports barrier-breaker statuary, Robinson’s stands alone in its
consistent degree of exclusion of sporting action.
The resulting lacuna is filled in part by a motif of racial integration between
Robinson, players, and fans; one that reflects upon the environment in which the
statue is placed. In Daytona and Montreal, Robinson’s statue features AfricanAmerican (or African-Canadian) and white children interacting, with the white child
effectively forming a link between the African-American and Robinson. This speaks
not only of a city in which sport is integrated but one where the roots of society are
founded on racially integrated principles, a culture that Robinson is witnessing rather
24
PDF created with pdfFactory Pro trial version www.pdffactory.com
than creating. Surrounding Robinson with other figures, and in particular with white
figures, projects accessibility, beckoning the public to approach his story.
The absence of baseball action, albeit from a subject identifiable as a baseball
player, also limits potential exclusion. It invites everyone, not just baseball fans, to
look more deeply at the statue and to seek interpretation from manner and poise of
Robinson’s image. The posed designs confer dignity, communicating that Robinson’s
life and its significance, though framed by baseball, was about more than just
baseball.
The sculpted countenances of other notable and heroic Americans typically
portray the men as stern, serious leaders. Four American presidents on Mount
Rushmore in South Dakota all appear without smiles. In the National Mall in
Washington, D.C., statues of President Franklin Roosevelt and three unidentified
Vietnam War soldiers all show the subjects as intense, serious-minded and focused
men. Nearby, President Abraham Lincoln and civil rights leader Martin Luther King,
Jr. both offer a stony-faced gaze from their respective memorials. Conversely
Robinson is sculpted with a smile, which diminishes the gravity of his presence. Yet
this is not counterbalanced by a sense of celebration: even in the triumphant design of
the Jersey City statue, Robinson’s expression of pleasure is reserved as opposed to
ecstatic, hinting at a more profound context than sporting enjoyment. Not only is
baseball action largely absent in Robinson’s statues, but so is a projection of
competitive spirit, ‘hustle’, and will to win that define both professional sportsman
and public figures competing against social barriers. As such, the design of the
Robinson statuary projects a man in baseball clothing as opposed to a player, but the
gentle and relaxed facial expressions also reduce any sense of wider social gravitas.
A Different Story? Collective Themes and Contextual Comparisons of Robinson
Statue Inscriptions
The plaque or plinth inscriptions for Jackie Robinson’s statues offer further evidence
of separation from the wider baseball statuary. Six of Robinson’s seven monuments
display inscriptions extolling character or personality featuring adjectives such as
‘courage’, ‘perseverance’ and ‘conviction’. A second consistent feature of Robinson’s
inscriptions is the referencing of the locale of the statue itself, either in terms of their
affection and interaction with Robinson, or their own virtue, a relatively uncommon
feature for baseball statues more generally, even those in civic locations. At Brooklyn,
25
PDF created with pdfFactory Pro trial version www.pdffactory.com
Robinson’s membership on a Brooklyn team is contrasted with the behaviour of the
opposing supporters of Cincinnati. In Daytona, the inscription proclaims the city’s
racial tolerance in relation to its Jim Crow era neighbours, and its role in promoting
integration. Plaques in Montreal and Jersey City are self-referencing: the Montreal
plaque defines Robinson as being in the minds of ‘all Montrealers’, with the Jersey
plaque neglecting to mention that Robinson was on the visiting team! Even the
NBHOFM ‘Character and Courage’ statue inscription references the titular
characteristics as being required to become a Hall of Famer and reside, at least
symbolically, in Cooperstown, New York, thus uplifting the principles of the
institution, its supporters and visitors.
Again, what is not inscribed on Robinson’s statues’ plaques or plinths can be
equally revealing in comparisons with the larger corpus of baseball statuary, in which
inscriptions often reference sporting achievement, both as detailed statistical records
(36% of player statues) and/or career highlights and membership of winning teams
(57% of player statues).97 Yet not one statue inscription of Robinson, a storied Hall of
Famer with a career batting average of .311, a six-time All-Star, a World Series
winner, a MLB Rookie of the Year award winner, a National League Most Valuable
Player award winner, and a prominent member of the all-twentieth century MLB AllStar team, lists these performance elements - or even his playing positions.
Therefore the collective message of the inscriptions correlates positively with
the statue designs in its marginalisation of baseball and promotion of specific
elements of Robinson’s personality. The inscriptions also guide the viewer towards
considering the host community’s role in Robinson’s story, positing that town, city or
institution as a positive influence, a supportive companion or even in some cases as a
proactive force in Robinson’s mission to integrate baseball and wider society. Hence
this is associated with the statue locations themselves; it is communities who have a
claim to have been a force for good in Robinson’s life who have erected statues to
him.
A statuary of reflected character and tolerance branding
The designs of Jackie Robinson’s statues and the inscriptions associated with them
provide a consistent presentation of the subject. The stereotypical baseball statue
produces an iconic image of a hitter or pitcher in action, located at the scene of their
finest moments, and supplemented by interpretative material listing performance
26
PDF created with pdfFactory Pro trial version www.pdffactory.com
statistics and offering eulogies based on sporting achievement. Conversely, Robinson
is displayed and interpreted in conjunction with deeper social issues within the
statue’s host community and in the broader national context. Coupled with their
distinctive promotion process and location types, the Robinson statues stand out from
the wider canon of baseball statuary. His statues do not foreground playing ability,
celebrate career highlights or his fight against racism, evoke nostalgia for a golden era
of baseball, or even function as reparations for past prejudice. This in turn indicates
that the motivations behind them and the message being foregrounded by the
promoters of these statues differ from those more frequently associated with the sport
statue genre.
Jackie Robinson’s statues do resemble wider sports statuary in a broader
sense, by being designed and presented in a way that reflects positive attributes on
their host communities. However these attributes are not the typical ones of athletic
prowess or glorious achievement. Instead they glory in the reflected character of
Jackie Robinson, and in the reflection of their own racial tolerance. Through these
complementary messages, these communities identify themselves with attributes that
are considered positive by wider society, and make themselves appear more attractive
as places to live, visit and invest in.
The use of reflected character can be seen in the way that lauded aspects of
Robinson’s personality, as opposed to his sporting skills, are consistently transmitted
through the images and interpretative materials, in each case encouraging the viewer
to associate these attributes with the host community and sponsors of the statue.
Robinson’s expression in each statue carries warmth and openness mixed with
determination and vulnerability, as opposed to the visage of celebration, aggression or
concentration typically associated with sport statues. The limitation of baseball
content may also reflect a desire to reflect Robinson’s character traits upon a wider
audience than baseball fans.
In addition, with the Daytona, Montreal, and Brooklyn statues, and to a lesser
extent those at Jersey City, UCLA, Stamford and the NBHOFM, a further element is
incorporated, either overtly in the design and plaque inscription, or through the
promotion of Robinson’s historical link with that community simply by placing his
iconic presence within it. The viewer is not only asked to acknowledge the character
of Robinson and its reflection upon sponsor or location - but is also presented with the
host community, be it a city, university or other organisation, as a proactive source of
27
PDF created with pdfFactory Pro trial version www.pdffactory.com
good character itself. Designs and inscriptions collectively promote the local
acceptance of Robinson and racial integration, staking a claim for, and celebrating
wider community histories of tolerance and generosity of spirit. In this sense they are
creating or enhancing an image of that community, by encouraging viewers of the
statue to connect and identify these attributes with the community i.e. forming part of
its brand and reputation. A competitive identity is an increasingly critical asset in a
world where cities or organisations are competing for people, investment and
resources.98
Perversely, this ‘tolerance branding’ diminishes community acknowledgement
of the impact Robinson’s career and character had upon them. That is, by promoting
themselves as historic beacons of equality, these cities or communities are effectively
claiming that they were not in need of the transformation in hearts and minds that
Robinson influenced. The identity of the subsets of Robinson’s statues posited as
explicit ‘tolerance branding’ and those that simply ‘bask in reflected character’ is
related to the racial composition of instigators and sculptors. The statues in Daytona,
Montreal, Brooklyn and the NBHOFM were promoted by white individuals, or by
committees where the majority of senior figures were white. A white mayor backed
the statue in Jersey City. Conversely, the Stamford statue, the only sculptural
portrayal of Robinson in a baseball action pose, was instigated by an AfricanAmerican-led community charity, and is the only one of the seven designed and
sculpted by an African-American. Such a dichotomy is understandable; an AfricanAmerican community has less reason to celebrate tolerance of their own race.
Support for tolerance branding as a driver of statue construction comes in the
form of comments from project promoters, who explicitly branded their communities
when promoting their Robinson statues. As previously noted, the leading motivation
espoused by the vice-chairman of the Daytona organising committee was that a statue
of Robinson would reflect the city’s ‘past achievements in race relations.’99 The
additional ‘barrier breaker’ plaques later installed reinforce this message. Darden
Jenkins, president of community group Friends of Daytona Baseball and a driving
force behind the installation of the plaques, claimed ‘Daytona stepped up and was
arguably one of the birthplaces of the Civil Rights movement’ and that ‘this story
needs to be told and this stadium saved.’100 When announcing the Montreal statue
proposal, the local media described their city as ‘a haven’ for the Robinsons.101. A
press release for the Brooklyn statue featured the borough president praising his
28
PDF created with pdfFactory Pro trial version www.pdffactory.com
community’s tolerance: ‘Pee Wee and Jackie showed the courage to stand up for
equality in the face of adversity, which we call the Brooklyn attitude. It is a moment
… that deserves to be preserved forever here in Brooklyn, proud home to everyone
from everywhere.’102 The statue at UCLA, though not a manifestation of tolerance
branding when Mack Robinson originally instigated the project, became associated
with this strategy when UCLA chose to host the artwork. By welcoming a statue of
Robinson on to their campus at a time when Pasadena was effectively rejecting it, and
celebrating the fact that Robinson himself was welcomed when other academic
institutions rejected him, UCLA was branding itself as a bastion of past and present
tolerance. The University has continued to promote Robinson’s alumni status through
naming its baseball stadium after him, and in 2013 enhanced the area around the
statue by adding an adjacent mural.103 It openly celebrates both the Robinson statue,
Robinson’s personal qualities, and the role that the University’s pro-integration
policies played in his career, on its website, stating
…perhaps being on the most racially integrated college football team at the time
showed him that not everyone believed in barriers. Perhaps being in an
environment that welcomed new ideas helped him endure the jeers, the threats, the
old way of thinking with such grace, dignity and honor. UCLA didn't get Jackie
Robinson into the Majors, but we certainly nurtured his belief that he could.104
A statuary of truth?
Cultural historians Martha Norkunas and Judith Dupré both remind us that
monuments and markers on the landscape serve as political symbols, highlighting
values that society wishes to preserve and celebrate.105 A primary reason for the
distinctive locational and promotional profile of Jackie Robinson statuary is the use of
his sculpted image by those erecting it to establish and proclaim a reputation for racial
tolerance. However, as might be expected given that these monuments promote
historical social progressiveness in the context of behaviour towards just one storied
athlete, such branding is often at odds with evidence.
For example, Daytona’s status as a moderate outpost within these strictures
was built upon economic and political expediency, namely the importance of tourist
income, and presence of an influential African-American leader who leveraged the
black vote (in 1948, 98% of the 3700 black voters were Democrats).106 As a city south
of the Jim Crow line, Daytona legally enforced racial segregation at the time of
29
PDF created with pdfFactory Pro trial version www.pdffactory.com
Robinson’s debut in 1946. Whilst his white team-mates enjoyed a comfortable hotel,
Robinson lodged apart. Similarly Dorothy Williams, writing on the history of
Montreal’s African-American community, regards its ‘haven’ status as a ‘charming
myth’ partially founded on Robinson’s story itself. Montreal had a far smaller
percentage of African-American residents than the larger cities of the US, with the
tolerance of this ethnic group stemming from its minimal influence. Though a high
degree of economic and social segregation existed informally within Montreal,
Williams insisted that ‘systematic racism was hidden, covert, yet insidious and
damaging.’107 Though Cleveland Indians’ owner Bill Veeck noted that ‘if Jackie
Robinson was the ideal man to break the color line, Brooklyn was also the ideal
place’, Brooklyn’s claims of institutionalised tolerance are vastly overstated. For
example, throughout the 1940’s separate black neighbourhoods were engineered by
what Brooklyn historian Craig Wilder describes the “racist progression of public and
private collusion over housing.”108
At first sight the NBHOFM triptych may seem a different case, commissioned
by an individual with no connection to Robinson or the Dodgers. Crotty’s wealth
allowed him to select players he believed were worthy, and to gain access to place
their images at the Hall of Fame location. However, the NBHOFM penned the
interpretative material provided, thus promoting a particular reading of the statues.
Most notably, the claim that becoming a Hall of Famer requires character is one that
both profiles the personal (as opposed to performance) aspect of the Robinson’s
baseball story, and is also contestable. Despite the character qualification enshrined in
voting guidelines, a realistic assessment of Hall of Fame inductees suggests that it is
interpreted more as an absence of profligate bad character.109 There is little evidence
of players inducted without having been elite performers; and a number of nominees
have displayed off-field behaviour that has been widely condemned.110
If the statues of Robinson are, on occasions, projecting an image of their hosts
that is at odds with historical reality, what of their portrayal of the man himself? The
presentations of Jackie Robinson through the story spaces of his statuary would be
expected to focus on his unique place as a racial barrier-breaker. Yet, curiously, these
graven images and their accompanying inscriptions have simultaneously excluded his
playing achievements. A lack of balance in form and interpretative content in these
selective constructions of the Robinson narrative has produced a mythology
diametrically opposed to his preference to be judged on the merits of his play.
30
PDF created with pdfFactory Pro trial version www.pdffactory.com
Minimal references to on-field performance on plaques or plinths accompany designs
that, whilst dressing Robinson as a baseball player, do not attempt to capture his style
of combat, playing strengths, or even, in five of seven designs, any sense of his
playing role.
At the start of the 1946 season, Rickey spelled out the challenge: ‘Jackie,
we've got no army. There's virtually nobody on our side …We can win only if we can
convince the world that I am doing this because you're a great ballplayer, and a fine
gentleman.’111 Similarly, assessing Robinson after his season in Montreal, Royals’
manager Clay Hopper told Rickey ‘He’s the greatest competitor I ever saw, and
what’s more, he’s a gentleman.’112
The placement of ‘ballplayer’ and ‘competitor’ alongside ‘gentleman’ in these
statements is worthy of comment. The selection of Robinson as the barrier breaker
was based in part upon character, and also his availability given his early military
discharge, since there were other more talented African-American players at the
time.113 Indeed, Rickey had likely planned to announce multiple black signings,
before political machinations and the possibility of the story being leaked and his
thunder being stolen led him to bring forward the unveiling of Robinson’s signing.114
This put additional focus upon Robinson in terms of behaviour and performance. If he
had not performed successfully as a player, he would not have had the opportunity to
demonstrate dignity under pressure, and fans and owners wavering in their opinions
would not have had another reason to reject the colour bar. Both qualities were critical
to his acceptance. As journalist Peter Golenbock infers of Robinson’s teammates,
‘They forgot about his colour and instead saw him as the difference between winning
the pennant or not.’115 Even with Robinson’s undoubted success as a productive
player and box-office draw, Major League owners were initially very slow to embrace
the pool of Negro League talent. A season later, only the Cleveland Indians, managed
by maverick Bill Veeck and perennial strugglers the St Louis Browns had joined the
Dodgers in recruiting black players. With such ingrained resistance, the process of
integration may have foundered for an even lengthier period than it did if Robinson
had failed to perform on the field (in 1959 the Boston Red Sox became the final
Major League team to field a black player).116
However, whilst naturally foregrounding the ‘fine gentleman’, the Robinson
statuary has also diminished his athletic achievement and his iron-willed
competitiveness. Robinson played with a distinctive modus operandi of aggressive
31
PDF created with pdfFactory Pro trial version www.pdffactory.com
base-running and lithe fielding, a style that entertained and enthralled the public, and
one to which some commentators attribute a wider development in strategy and
tactics. Robinson has been described as reviving the art of stealing home.117
According to biographer David Falkner he was ‘the father of modern basestealing.’118 Robinson was also renowned as a supreme competitor, famously once
stating: ‘Above anything else, I hate to lose.’119 Yet, whereas the likes of Ty Cobb, to
whom Rickey once compared Robinson’s will to win120, are depicted by designs that
showcase their competitive instinct, Robinson is sculpted as a saintly smiling figure, a
visage that reflects martyrdom rather than his blend of dignity and intense
combativeness. At best Robinson’s statues depict the face that he was forced to
maintain against his personality: as New York journalist ‘Doc’ Young opined,
Robinson “dressed himself in the cloak of humility and made it a perfect fit through
one of the greatest acting jobs in baseball history.”121
A further interpretation of the marginalisation of baseball within the Robinson
statuary is that society does not wish to foreground a narrative in which sporting
ability was required to change attitudes and gain traction for social change. This angle
is one that Robinson and his contemporaries clearly understood. Fellow Dodger Duke
Snider noted, ‘[h]e knew he had to do well. He knew that the future of blacks in
baseball depended on it.’122 Similarly, recalling an incident from his youth in which
he was arrested for a minor offence before senior figures at UCLA negotiated his
release, Robinson admitted ‘I got out of that trouble because I was an athlete.’123 As
one of his biographers, Arnold Rampersad, notes, Robinson knew even then that ‘he
was lucky enough to have physical gifts that the whites prized.’124
In 1962, voters elected Jackie Robinson to the National Baseball Hall of Fame,
an honour bestowed upon the most successful and revered participants in the
American national pastime. Robinson won entry on the first ballot, a rarity even
among the august company enshrined in the Hall. The original HOF plaque unveiled
at the NBHOFM presents a stark contrast to the inscriptions on subsequent
monuments:
Jack Roosevelt Robinson
Brooklyn N.L. 1947 to 1956
Leading N.L. batter in 1949. Holds fielding mark for second basemen playing in
150 or more games with .992. Led N.L. in stolen bases in 1947 and 1949. Most
32
PDF created with pdfFactory Pro trial version www.pdffactory.com
valuable player in 1949. Lifetime batting average .311. Joint record holder for
most double plays by second baseman, 137 in 1951. Led second basemen in
double plays 1949-50-51-52.
The Hall of Fame omitted Robinson’s breaking of the colour bar and his achievements
beyond the ballpark at his own request. When his candidacy was under consideration,
he requested that the baseball writers make their decision based only upon his playing
ability and impact upon the field.125 His plaque reflected that wish. Pee Wee Reese
once remarked that he (Reese) had never sought to make grand gestures or treat
Robinson as anything other than a teammate. In reply, Robinson suggested that this
was why he was so fond of Reese.126
In 2008, the NBHOFM rewrote Jackie Robinson’s Hall of Fame plaque to
describe his wider impact as well as his performance statistics:
Jack Roosevelt Robinson
'Jackie'
Brooklyn, N.L., 1947-1956
A player of extraordinary ability renowned for his electrifying style of play, over
10 seasons hit .311, scored more than 100 runs six times, named to six All-Star
teams and led Brooklyn to six pennants and its only World Series title, in 1955.
The 1947 Rookie of the Year, and the 1949 N.L. MVP when he hit a league-best
.342 with 37 steals. Led second basemen in double plays four times and stole home
19 times, displayed tremendous courage and poise in 1947 when he integrated the
modern Major Leagues in the face of intense adversity.
Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist George Will once wrote that Jackie Robinson
was a close second to Martin Luther King, Jr., as ‘the most important black person in
American history.’127 Though against Robinson’s wishes, the desire of the NBHOF
committee to highlight his societal as well as his baseball achievements was
understandable and widely applauded. However, for his statuary to provide a similarly
balanced perspective, the promotion of his baseball achievements within it would be
desirable. His unique position as Major League baseball’s barrier-breaker, preceding
and promoting the wider racial integration of American society, is a logical
explanation for the prevalence of statues in his honour - but the omission or
backgrounding of his athletic abilities and competitive personality has resulted in a
portrayal of impact and legacy that sidelines both part of the process and the attributes
33
PDF created with pdfFactory Pro trial version www.pdffactory.com
that made this impact achievable. Whilst the predominant visual narrative of an
existing statue is not so easily remediable, inscriptions can be adjusted and
supplemented, and any future monuments can take this into account. Jackie
Robinson’s statues would provide a more balanced perspective on how their subject
changed society if this were to happen.
Notes
1
For the purposes of this article, we define the North American baseball statuary as being the
collection of publicly accessible full body figurative sculptures depicting baseball players, managers,
founders/owners/executives, broadcasters and fans, which have been erected to honour their subject for
reasons primarily related to their career in the baseball industry.
2
Phillips, O'Neill and Osmond, 'Broadening Horizons'.
3
Ibid., 28
4
Huggins and O'Mahony, The Visual in Sport. 1090
5
Seifried and Meyer, 'Nostalgia-related Aspects'; Stride, Thomas, Wilson and Pahigian, 'Modeling
Stadium Statue Subject Choice'; Stride, Wilson and Thomas, 'Honouring Heroes'.
6
Wood and Gabie, 'Football Ground and Visual Culture'.
7
Osmond, Phillips and O'Neill, ''Putting up your Dukes'', ibid.
8
Smith, 'Frozen Fists'.
9
Osmond, 'Shaping Lives'.
10
Huggins, 'Death, memorialisation'.
11
Smith, 'Mapping America’s Sporting Landscape'. 1256
12
Phillips, O'Neill and Osmond, 'Broadening Horizons'.
13
Schein, Landscape and Race. 5.
14
Between January 2011 and March 2013, the first and second authors constructed a database of
existing North American-sited statues of baseball players, managers, broadcasters and executives as
part of a wider project into commemoration in sport. Data and images were obtained through a
literature, archival and online search, and via interviews with sculptors and project organisers.
Variables collected included the precise location, date of unveiling, design type (broadly classified as
‘action’, ‘posed’ or ‘triumph’), the full plaque or plinth inscription, and the identity of the statue project
promoters and funders, as well as further demographic and performance information on the subjects
depicted. The database is complete and accurate to the best of our knowledge. In March 2013 the
primary elements of the database (the statue location, sculptor, unveiling date, inscription and photos of
the statue showing the design) were made publically available through the project website at
www.sportingstatues.com. Prior to its launch, baseball historians from a national spread of chapters of
the Society for American Baseball Research (SABR) and the National Baseball Hall of Fame Museum
(NBHOF) were invited to view the draft version and suggest any omissions or errors. In the month
following its launch, the website received over 10000 unique visitors and substantial regional and
national press coverage across North America, yet only one further subject-specific statue erected prior
to March 2013 was discovered added as a result of information received after the launch. The authors
have continued to maintain and update the database with information drawn from through frequent
online searches and contacts within the sports sculpture industry.
15
Cialdini, Borden, Thorne, Walker, Freeman and Sloan, 'Basking in Reflected Glory'.
16
Schein, Landscape and Race. 221.
17
Lamb, Blackout. 26; Osmond, 'Shaping Lives'; Tygiel, Extra Bases.
18
Baltov Jr., Baseball Is America. 108
19
Dorinson, Warmund and Schumer eds, Jackie Robinson: Race, Sports, and the American Dream;
Rampersad, Jackie Robinson; Robinson and Duckett, I Never Had It Made. Tygiel, Baseball's Great
Experiment.
20
Tygiel, Baseball's Great Experiment, 63.
21
Tygiel, Baseball's Great Experiment.
22
Robinson and Duckett, I Never Had It Made; Tygiel, Baseball's Great Experiment.
34
PDF created with pdfFactory Pro trial version www.pdffactory.com
23
Rampersad, Jackie Robinson; Robinson and Daniels, Jackie Robinson: an Intimate Portrait. Tygiel,
Baseball's Great Experiment.
24
Mandell, Sport: A Cultural History; McMillen and McMillen, 'Legal Aspects of Sports Sculpture'. 22
25
Munslow, Narrative and History; Seifried and Meyer, 'Nostalgia-related Aspects'; Stride, Wilson and
Thomas, 'Honouring Heroes'. Stride, Thomas and Wilson. 'The Sporting Statues Project.'
http://www.sportingstatues.com. Across North America, just 17 subject-specific baseball statues were
in situ as of 1 January 1993; a total that had grown at an increasing rate to 197 by 1 October 2013.
26
Osmond, Phillips and O'Neill, ''Putting up your Dukes''. 85.
27
The statue of Albert Pujols in St Louis offers an example of how multiple meanings can be carried
simultaneously and develop over time. It depicts the great slugger celebrating a homerun; knowledge of
Pujol’s faith would enable the viewer to interpret the religious overtones of his celebratory gesture. At
the time of the statue’s erection it was a site of hero worship for St Louis Cardinal’s fans, but Pujols’s
departure subsequently changed the interpretation of the statue: for some it will have become a
representation of betrayal, Over time it may begin to evoke nostalgia in those for whom the preferred
memory of the subject will be his contribution to a successful cardinals team. Associated Press. 'Albert
Pujols statue unveiled.' http://espn.go.com/mlb/story/_/id/7182254/albert-pujols-statue-unveiled-starrestaurant. Strauss. 'Pujols signs with Angels: 10 years, $254 million.'
http://www.stltoday.com/sports/baseball/professional/pujols-signs-with-angels-yearsmillion/article_9181b070-21ae-11e1-93ef-0019bb30f31a.html.
28
Doorman, 'Sculpture's Location'.
29
Pascal, Sprott and Muehling, 'Influence of Evoked Nostalgia'. Funk and James, 'Consumer loyalty:
The meaning of attachment in the development of sport team allegiance'; Gladden and Funk,
'Developing an understanding of brand associations', ibid.
30
Rosensweig, Retro Ballparks.
31
Ritzer, The McDonaldization of Society. Ritzer and Stillman, 'The Postmodern Ballpark as Leisure
Setting'.
32
Having starred for the Chicago Bulls franchise for the preceding decade, Michael Jordan retired from
basketball in 1993. In 1994 he was honoured by a statue, named ‘The Spirit’, erected outside the Bull’s
home arena, The United Center, Jordan came out of retirement and returned to the Bulls line-up in
1995.
33
Cialdini, Borden, Thorne, Walker, Freeman and Sloan, 'Basking in Reflected Glory'.
34
Wann and Branscombe, 'Die-Hard and Fair-Weather Fans'.
35
Smith, 'Frozen Fists'.
36
Smith, 'Mapping America’s Sporting Landscape'.
37
The statistics given in this and the following paragraphs are drawn from the sporting statues database
described in endnote 13.
38
Stride, Thomas, Wilson and Pahigian, 'Modeling Stadium Statue Subject Choice'.
39
Huggins and O'Mahony, The Visual in Sport.
40
In 1997, after Mack’s death, giant busts of Jackie and Mack Robinson, sculpted by Ralph Hemrick,
were erected in Pasadena.
41
Rampersad, Jackie Robinson. 58.
42
Ibid. 58. Kaliss. 2008. Everybody’s All-Americans: Race, Men’s College Athletics, and the Ideal of
Equal Opportunity: University of North Carolina.
43
Barber. 1984. Statue Still Clay Dream For Brother. In Los Angeles Times. Los Angeles. Richard Ellis
(sculptor), telephone interview, first author, February 2012.
44
Richard Ellis (sculptor), telephone interview, first author, February 2012.
45
Robinson is also honoured by UCLA with a further playing field, Jackie Robinson Field at
Brookfield Park, adjacent to the Rose Bowl in Pasadena.
46
Polner, Branch Rickey: A Biography.
47
Humber and Jones, A Sporting Chance; Todd. 1996. Events planned to honour Robinson in
Montreal. In Montreal Gazette. Montreal.
48
Farber. 1986. A color bar fell on De Gaspe St.Ibid.
49
The Montreal (and Daytona copy) statue of Robinson represents Lasalle’s only baseball-related
statuary, though this is not surprising given the departure of MLB from Montreal and the tendency for
sports sculpture commissions to be awarded to local artists.
50
Jules Lasalle (sculptor), telephone interview, first author, March 2012.
51
Ibid. Both the hair and facial features of the second child reflect Afro-Canadian heritage.
52
Ibid.
35
PDF created with pdfFactory Pro trial version www.pdffactory.com
53
Lamb, Blackout. Lee and Jennings, Baseball in Savannah. 64.
Lempel, 'The Civil Rights Struggle in Daytona Beach'. 92.
55
Lamb, Blackout. 90-92.
56
Ibid.
57
Bozzo. 2003. Jackie Robinson’s images adorn ballpark. In Daytona News Journal.
58
Carter. 1989. Robinson memorial plans to reach beyond statue. In The News Journal. Daytona, FL.
59
Suzanne Kuehn (project organiser), telephone interview, first author, May 2012. In the majority of
cases where a statue is sculpted of a deceased subject with a living spouse, the sculptor and statue
project organisers will seek information and approval from the spouse regarding the project and the
design, and potentially amend the design if it was considered unsatisfactory or unsuitable. This was
relevant in that by Daytona using an existing design there was no risk of it not being considered
satisfactory to Rachel Robinson, a scenario which would have been a major embarrassment, and would
have delayed a project which the organisers were looking to complete quickly and at minimal cost.
60
Carter. 1989. Robinson memorial plans to reach beyond statue. In The News Journal. Daytona, FL;
Unattributed. Ibid.Funding for Jackie Robinson statue nears goal.
61
Wirt. 1990. Montreal sculptor says he improved on his original Jackie Robinson statue, ibid.
62
Bozzo. 2003. Jackie Robinson’s images adorn ballpark. In Daytona News Journal; Libby. 2005. A
Whole New Ballgame. In Orlando Sentinel. Orlando, FL.
63
Wagner has created five statues of baseball players, making her amongst the more prolific sculptors
within the genre. Her portrayal of Roberto Clemente (PNC Park, Pittsburgh, 1992) is a particularly
popular and highly regarded example. In addition she has been responsible for sculpting the inductee
images on plaques for the National Baseball Hall of Fame. Sandomir. Baseball; Inductees Cast in
Bronze And Set for Immortality. In New York Times. New York.
64
Susan Wagner (sculptor), telephone interviews, first author, February 2012, November 2012.
65
Robinson. 'The Jackie Robinson Foundation: The Foundation's Mission.'
http://www.jackierobinson.org/about/mission.php.
66
Rampersad, Jackie Robinson. 272-273
67
Lavoie. 1998. Stamford plans to erect statue to Jackie Robinson. In The Day. New London CT; ibid.
68
Ibid.; Polner, Branch Rickey: A Biography.
69
Jeffries is one of only three African-American sculptors to be listed amongst the creators of the North
American baseball statuary. African-American sculptors have only been commissioned to sculpt
African-American or African-Latino players.
70
Lavoie. 1999. Robinson statue unveiled at park. In The Hour. Norwalk CT.
71
Sandomir. 1997. An Effort to Cherish the Memory of Jackie Robinson. In New York Times.
72
Eig, Opening Day: The Story of Jackie Robinson's First Season. 128
73
Rowan and Robinson, Wait Till Next Year.
74
Miller, The 100 Greatest Days in New York Sports. 396
75
Helgeland. 2013. 42: Warner Bros.
76
Behrends is a prolific sports sculptor, with commissions from across the US. His other baseball
works including statues at AT&T Park, San Francisco, Petco Park in San Diego and the NBHOF,
Cooperstown.
77
Crotty. 'Character And Courage Foundation: Who Are We?'
http://greendiamondgallery.com/characterandcourage/WhoAreWe.html.
78
Maraniss, Clemente. Eig, Luckiest Man.
79
Personal communication by first author with Tom Shieber, curator, National Baseball Hall of Fame
Museum, 18/10/2012
80
News Wire Staff. 2004. MLB: Every April 15 to be Jackie Robinson Day. In USA Today. Marcus.
'Citi Field stirs up memories of Ebbets Field.' http://www.newsday.com/sports/baseball/all-stargame/citi-field-stirs-up-memories-of-ebbets-field-1.5677844.
81
Stride, Thomas, Wilson and Pahigian, 'Modeling Stadium Statue Subject Choice'.
82
Associated Press. 2002. Jackie Robinson's native town Cairo struggles to remember him. In
Savannah Morning News. Savannah GA. Wright. 'Jackie Robinson kin fights for his legacy.'
http://jacksonville.com/tu-online/stories/072902/met_10035916.html.
83
Rampersad, Jackie Robinson. 61.
84
Ralph Hemrick (sculptor), telephone interview, first author, February 2012.
85
Norkunas, Monuments and Memory. 65
86
Purdom. 'Philadelphia Public Art.' http://www.philart.net/.
87
Brown, Baseball's Fabulous Montreal Royals.
54
36
PDF created with pdfFactory Pro trial version www.pdffactory.com
88
Polner, Branch Rickey: A Biography. 151.
Rampersad, Jackie Robinson. 273.
90
Rutkoff and Hall eds, Cooperstown Symposium on Baseball and the American Culture 1997. 239
91
Lempel, 'The Civil Rights Struggle in Daytona Beach'.
92
Associated-Press. 1994. Statue of Clemente unveiled. In Eugene Register-Guard. Eugene. Stanley.
'Making A Dream Come True In Bronze A Statue Memorializing Roberto Clemente Carries A Message
To Children.' http://articles.philly.com/1997-09-16/news/25550963_1_statue-monument-children.
Purdom. 'Philadelphia Public Art. Roberto Clemente.' http://www.philart.net/art.php?id=598; Staff.
'Roberto Clemente bronze statue unveiled in Newark's Branch Brook Park.'
http://www.nj.com/news/index.ssf/2012/06/roberto_clemente_bronze_statue.html. Slattery. 'Baseball
legend Roberto Clemente immortalized with statue at his namesake state park.'
http://www.nydailynews.com/new-york/bronx/inside-the-park-homer-roberto-clemente-article1.1384602.Photos of each statue and the full plinth inscriptions, recorded in person by either the first or
third authors, or in the case of the Philadelphia statue, by the PhilArt public art database
(www.philart.net), can be viewed at the first and second author’s aforementioned project website
http://www.sportingstatues.com. If statue totals in North America and Latin America are added,
Roberto Clemente surpasses Robinson as the baseball player with the most such monuments, with at
least seven further erected in Puerto Rico and Nicaragua.
93
Anderson. 'A Serious Statesman of the Game.'
http://www.nytimes.com/2003/06/20/sports/baseball/20anderson.html; Martin and Martin, The Negro
Leagues in New Jersey: A History. The plaque reads “LAWRENCE EUGENE DOBY. "LARRY".
Born Camden, South Carolina December 13, 1923;…Eastside High School, Paterson 19381942;…Lettered in Football, Basketball, Baseball, and Track;….All-State in Football, Basketball, and
Baseball;….Attended L.I. University;....Negro League, 1942, 1946-1947;....U.S. Navy 19431946;...American League, 1947-1959;....First African American Player in the American League;....First
African American to hit a home run in the World Series;....American League All-Star, 19491955;....Led the League in Home Runs in 1952;....Led the League in Home Runs and RBI's in
1954;....Manager of the Chicago White Sox 1978;....Baseball Hall of Fame 1998;....Eastside High
School Hall of Fame 1999. I cannot change yesterday, I can only make the most of today, and look
with hope toward tomorrow.”
94
Corcoran, Induction Day at Cooperstown; Hill. 'Statue of Paige a moving tribute.'
http://mlb.mlb.com/news/article.jsp?ymd=20060728&content_id=1579676&vkey=news_mlb&fext=.js
p&c_id=mlb.
95
Haskell. 'Racial Pioneer And Tennis Great Althea Gibson Honored In Newark.'
http://newyork.cbslocal.com/2012/03/28/racial-pioneer-and-tennis-great-althea-gibson-honored-innewark/. De la Torre. 'Boxing Champion Jack Johnson Statue Dedication.'
http://www.chron.com/news/houston-texas/gallery/Boxing-Champion-Jack-Johnson-StatueDedication-52407/photo-3732907.php. Major-Taylor-Association. 'The Statue.'
http://www.majortaylorassociation.org/statue.shtml.
96
Leib, 'The Witting Autobiography of Richmond, Virginia'; Schultz, 'Contesting the Master
Narrative'. Ashe holds both a racket and books, balancing his image as an athlete and supporter of
education. A second statue of Ashe playing tennis stands by the Arthur Ashe Stadium, at Flushing
Meadows, venue of the US Tennis Open Championships.
97
Stride, Thomas and Wilson. 'The Sporting Statues Project.' http://www.sportingstatues.com.
98
Anholt, Competitive Identity.
99
Carter. 1989. Robinson memorial plans to reach beyond statue. In The News Journal. Daytona, FL.
100
Koslow. 2002. Projects In Line For Preservation Grants. In Daytona News Journal Daytona, FL.
101
Farber. 1986. A color bar fell on De Gaspe St. In Montreal Gazette. Montreal.
102
Helgeland. 2013. 42: Warner Bros; Skyler. 2005. Mayor Bloomberg and Brooklyn Borough
President Markowitz unveil Jackie Robinson and Pee Wee Reese Monument, ed. Office of the Mayor.
New York.
103
Wang. 'UCLA unveils Jackie Robinson mural.' http://www.insidesocal.com/ucla/2013/04/14/uclabaseball-stadium-unveils-jackie-robinson-mural/.
104
UCLA. 'When baseball wouldn't let him in, he refused to be out.'
http://www.ucla.edu/optimists/robinson. UCLA. 'April 15, 1947 The Name. The Legend. The Man.'
http://alumni.ucla.edu/share/ucla-history/tmih-apr-robinson.aspx.
105
Norkunas, Monuments and Memory. 44. Dupre, Monuments: America’s History in Art and Memory.
7.
89
37
PDF created with pdfFactory Pro trial version www.pdffactory.com
106
Lempel, 'The Civil Rights Struggle in Daytona Beach'. 93. Lamb, Blackout. 91.
Lamb, Blackout; Williams, The Road to Now; Williams. 1999. The Jackie Robinson Myth: Social
Mobility and Race in Montreal. 1920-1960. In History. Montreal: Concordia. Humber and Jones, A
Sporting Chance.
108
Veeck and Linn, Veeck - As In Wreck. 175. Wilder, A Covenant with Color. 201.
109
National Baseball Hall Of Fame Museum. 'BBWAA Election Rules.' baseballhall.org/hallfamers/rules-election/bbwaa.
110
Posnanski. 2009. Hall of Fame needs to get rid of ridiculous character clause. In Sports Illustrated.
Bush. 2010. Rule 5: An Analysis Of The Mlb Hall Of Fame Character Clause: Drexel University; ibid.
111
Robinson and Duckett, I Never Had It Made. 32
112
Baltov Jr., Baseball Is America. 107
113
Swaine, 'Jackie Robinson'. 9. Tygiel, Baseball's Great Experiment., 64.
114
Tygiel, Extra Bases.
115
Dorinson, Warmund and Schumer eds, Jackie Robinson: Race, Sports, and the American Dream. 19
116
Tygiel, Baseball's Great Experiment.
117
Swaine, 'Jackie Robinson'. 7.
118
Falkner, Great Time Coming.
119
Gutman, Giants of Baseball.
120
Lowerman, Baseball's Ferocious Gentleman. 376.
121
Tygiel, Baseball's Great Experiment. 214.
122
Powers, The Business of Baseball. 108
123
Rampersad, Jackie Robinson. 66
124
Ibid. 66
125
Thorne. 2009. Robinson's role in integration properly noted. In USA Today.
126
Eig, Opening Day: The Story of Jackie Robinson's First Season. 129
127
Gehring, Mr. Deeds Goes to Yankee Stadium.
107
References
Anderson, D. 'A Serious Statesman of the Game'.
http://www.nytimes.com/2003/06/20/sports/baseball/20anderson.html.
Anholt, S. Competitive Identity: The New Brand Management for Nations, Cities and
Regions. New York, NY: Palgrave McMillen, 2007.
Associated-Press. 1994. Statue of Clemente unveiled. Eugene Register-Guard,
9/7/1994.
Associated Press. 2002. Jackie Robinson's native town Cairo struggles to remember
him. Savannah Morning News,
http://savannahnow.com/stories/080402/SPTrobinson.shtml (accessed
22/10/2012).
Associated Press. 'Albert Pujols statue unveiled'.
http://espn.go.com/mlb/story/_/id/7182254/albert-pujols-statue-unveiled-starrestaurant.
Baltov Jr., V.A. Baseball Is America: Origins and History: The Good, the Bad, and
the Ugly. Bloomington: AuthorHouse, 2010.
Barber, M. 1984. Statue Still Clay Dream For Brother. Los Angeles Times.
Bozzo, J. 2003. Jackie Robinson’s images adorn ballpark. Daytona News Journal,
23/12/2003.
Brown, W. Baseball's Fabulous Montreal Royals. Montreal: Studio 9 Books, 1996.
Bush, B. 2010. Rule 5: An Analysis Of The Mlb Hall Of Fame Character Clause.
Master of Sport Management, Drexel University.
38
PDF created with pdfFactory Pro trial version www.pdffactory.com
Carter, J. 1989. Robinson memorial plans to reach beyond statue. The News Journal,
21/7/1989.
Cialdini, R.B., R.J. Borden, A. Thorne, M.R. Walker, S. Freeman and L.R. Sloan.
'Basking in Reflected Glory: Three (Football) Field Studies'. Journal of
Personality and Social Psychology 34 (1976): 366-75.
Corcoran, D. Induction Day at Cooperstown: A History of the Baseball Hall of Fame
Ceremony. Jefferson, NC: McFarland, 2011.
Crotty, R. 'Character And Courage Foundation: Who Are We?'.
http://greendiamondgallery.com/characterandcourage/WhoAreWe.html.
De la Torre, N. 'Boxing Champion Jack Johnson Statue Dedication'.
http://www.chron.com/news/houston-texas/gallery/Boxing-Champion-JackJohnson-Statue-Dedication-52407/photo-3732907.php.
Doorman, M. 'Sculpture's Location In The Midst Of The Real'. Sculpture Journal 17
(2008): 94-100.
Dorinson, J., J. Warmund and C.E. Schumer eds. Jackie Robinson: Race, Sports, and
the American Dream. New York: M. E. Sharpe, 1998.
Dupre, J. Monuments: America’s History in Art and Memory. New York, NY:
Random House, 2007.
Eig, J. Luckiest Man: The Life and Death of Lou Gehrig. New York: Simon &
Schuster, 2005.
Eig, J. Opening Day: The Story of Jackie Robinson's First Season. New York: Simon
& Schuster, 2008.
Falkner, D. Great Time Coming: The Life of Jackie Robinson, from Baseball to
Birmingham. New York: Simon & Schuster, 1995.
Farber, M. 1986. A color bar fell on De Gaspe St. Montreal Gazette, 12/8/1986.
Funk, D.C. and J.D. James. 'Consumer loyalty: The meaning of attachment in the
development of sport team allegiance'. Journal of Sport Management 20
(2006): 189-217.
Gehring, W.G. Mr. Deeds Goes to Yankee Stadium: Baseball Films in the Capra
Tradition. Jefferson, NC.: McFarland & Co Inc., 2004.
Gladden, J.M. and D.C. Funk. 'Developing an understanding of brand associations in
team sport: Empirical evidence from consumers of professional sport'. Journal
of Sport Management 16 (2002): 54-81.
Gutman, B. Giants of Baseball. New York: Tempo Books, 1975.
Haskell, P. 'Racial Pioneer And Tennis Great Althea Gibson Honored In Newark'.
http://newyork.cbslocal.com/2012/03/28/racial-pioneer-and-tennis-greatalthea-gibson-honored-in-newark/.
42. Directed by Helgeland, B., 2013.
Hill, J.B. 'Statue of Paige a moving tribute'.
http://mlb.mlb.com/news/article.jsp?ymd=20060728&content_id=1579676&v
key=news_mlb&fext=.jsp&c_id=mlb.
Huggins, M. 'Death, memorialisation and the Victorian sporting hero'. The Local
Historian 38 (2008): 257-65.
Huggins, M. and M. O'Mahony. The Visual in Sport. London: Routledge, 2011.
Humber, W. and S. Jones. A Sporting Chance: Achievements of African-Canadian
Athletes. Toronto: Natural Heritage Books, 2004.
Kaliss, G.J. 2008. Everybody’s All-Americans: Race, Men’s College Athletics, and
the Ideal of Equal Opportunity. University of North Carolina.
39
PDF created with pdfFactory Pro trial version www.pdffactory.com
Koslow, R. 2002. Projects In Line For Preservation Grants. Daytona News Journal
28/9/2002.
Lamb, C. Blackout: The Untold Story of Jackie Robinson's First Spring Training.
Omaha: University of Nebraska Press, 2004.
Lavoie, D. 1998. Stamford plans to erect statue to Jackie Robinson. The Day,
10/7/1998.
Lavoie, D. 1999. Robinson statue unveiled at park. The Hour, 16/10/1999.
Lee, B.H. and S. Jennings. Baseball in Savannah. Charleston, SC: Arcadia
Publishing, 2012.
Leib, J. 'The Witting Autobiography of Richmond, Virginia: Arthur Ashe, the Civil
War, and Monument Avenue’s Racialized Landscape'. In Landscape and Race
in the United States, edited by R. Schein, 187-211. New York: Routledge,
2006.
Lempel, L.R. 'Toms and Bombs: The Civil Rights Struggle in Daytona Beach'. In Old
South, New South, or Down South? Florida and the Modern Civil Rights
Movement edited by I.D.S. Winsboro. Morgantown, WV: West Virginia
University Press, 2009.
Libby, J. 2005. A Whole New Ballgame. Orlando Sentinel, 5/4/2005.
Lowerman, L. Branch Rickey, Baseball's Ferocious Gentleman. Omaha: University of
Nebraska Press, 2009.
Major-Taylor-Association. 'The Statue'.
http://www.majortaylorassociation.org/statue.shtml.
Mandell, R.A. Sport: A Cultural History. New York: Columbia University Press,
1984.
Maraniss, D. Clemente: The Passion and Grace of Baseball's Last Hero New York:
Simon & Schuster, 2007.
Marcus, S. 'Citi Field stirs up memories of Ebbets Field'.
http://www.newsday.com/sports/baseball/all-star-game/citi-field-stirs-upmemories-of-ebbets-field-1.5677844.
Martin, A.M. and A.T. Martin. The Negro Leagues in New Jersey: A History.
Jefferson, NC: McFarland, 2008.
McMillen, J.D. and R.S. McMillen. 'The Legal Aspects of Sports Sculpture'.
Willamette Sports Law Journal 1 (2005): 1-23.
Miller, S. The 100 Greatest Days in New York Sports: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt,
2006.
Munslow, A. Narrative and History. New York: Palgrave MacMillan, 2007.
National Baseball Hall Of Fame Museum. 'BBWAA Election Rules'.
baseballhall.org/hall-famers/rules-election/bbwaa.
News Wire Staff. 2004. MLB: Every April 15 to be Jackie Robinson Day. USA
Today, http://usatoday30.usatoday.com/sports/baseball/2004-03-03-april15_x.htm (accessed.
Norkunas, M.K. Monuments and Memory: History and Representation in Lowell,
Massachusetts. Washington, DC: Smithsonian Institution Press, 2002.
Osmond, G. 'Shaping Lives: Statues as biography'. Sporting Traditions 27 (2010):
101-11.
Osmond, G., M.G. Phillips and M. O'Neill. ''Putting up your Dukes': Statues Social
Memory and Duke Paoa Kahanamoku'. The International Journal of the
History of Sport 23 (2006): 82-103.
40
PDF created with pdfFactory Pro trial version www.pdffactory.com
Pascal, V.J., D.E. Sprott and D.D. Muehling. 'The Influence of Evoked Nostalgia on
Consumers' Responses in Advertising: An Exploratory Study'. Journal of
Current Issues and Research in Advertising 24 (2002): 39-49.
Phillips, M.G., M.E. O'Neill and G. Osmond. 'Broadening Horizons in Sports History:
Films, Photographs and Monuments'. Journal of Sports History 34 (2007):
271-91.
Polner, M. Branch Rickey: A Biography. Jefferson, NC.: McFarland & Co, Inc., 2006.
Posnanski, J. 2009. Hall of Fame needs to get rid of ridiculous character clause.
Sports Illustrated,
http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2009/writers/joe_posnanski/02/11/hall.steroids
/ (accessed 22/10/2012).
Powers, A.T. The Business of Baseball. Jefferson, NC: McFarland, 2003.
Purdom, C.W. 'Philadelphia Public Art'. http://www.philart.net/.
Purdom, C.W. 'Philadelphia Public Art. Roberto Clemente'.
http://www.philart.net/art.php?id=598.
Rampersad, A. Jackie Robinson: A Biography. New York: Ballantine Books, 1998.
Ritzer, G. The McDonaldization of Society: New Century Edition: Sage, 2000.
Ritzer, G. and T. Stillman. 'The Postmodern Ballpark as Leisure Setting: Enchantment
and Simulated De-McDonaldization.'. Leisure Sciences 23 (2001): 99-113.
Robinson, J. and A. Duckett. I Never Had It Made. New York: Ecco, 1995.
Robinson, R. 'The Jackie Robinson Foundation: The Foundation's Mission'.
http://www.jackierobinson.org/about/mission.php.
Robinson, R. and L. Daniels. Jackie Robinson: an Intimate Portrait. New York: Harry
N. Abrams, Inc., 1996.
Rosensweig, D. Retro Ballparks: Instant History, Baseball, and the New American
City. Tennessee: University of Tennessee Press., 2005.
Rowan, C.T. and J. Robinson. Wait Till Next Year. New York: Random House, 1960.
Rutkoff, P.M. and A.L. Hall eds. Cooperstown Symposium on Baseball and the
American Culture 1997. Jefferson NC: McFarland, 2000.
Sandomir, R. Baseball; Inductees Cast in Bronze And Set for Immortality. New York
Times, 21/7/1991.
Sandomir, R. 1997. An Effort to Cherish the Memory of Jackie Robinson. New York
Times, http://www.nytimes.com/specials/baseball/robinson-0223.html
(accessed 10/10/2012).
Schein, R.H. Landscape and Race in the United States. New York, NY: Routledge,
2006.
Schultz, J. 'Contesting the Master Narrative: The Arthur Ashe Statue and Monument
Avenue in Richmond, Virginia'. The International Journal of the History of
Sport 28 (2011): 8-9.
Seifried, C. and K. Meyer. 'Nostalgia-related Aspects of Professional Sports Facilities:
A Facility Audit of Major League Baseball and National Football League
Strategies to Evoke the Past'. International Journal of Sport Management
Recreation and Tourism 5 (2010): 51-76.
Skyler, E. 2005. Mayor Bloomberg and Brooklyn Borough President Markowitz
unveil Jackie Robinson and Pee Wee Reese Monument, ed. N.Y.C. Office of
the Mayor. New York.
41
PDF created with pdfFactory Pro trial version www.pdffactory.com
Slattery, D. 'Baseball legend Roberto Clemente immortalized with statue at his
namesake state park'. http://www.nydailynews.com/new-york/bronx/insidethe-park-homer-roberto-clemente-article-1.1384602.
Smith, M.M. 'Frozen Fists in Speed City: The Statue as Twenty-First-Century
Reparations'. Journal of Sport History 36 (2009): 393-414.
Smith, M.M. 'Mapping America’s Sporting Landscape: A Case Study of Three
Statues'. The International Journal of the History of Sport 28 (2011): 1252-68.
Staff, S.-L. 'Roberto Clemente bronze statue unveiled in Newark's Branch Brook
Park'.
http://www.nj.com/news/index.ssf/2012/06/roberto_clemente_bronze_statue.h
tml.
Stanley, L.S. 'Making A Dream Come True In Bronze A Statue Memorializing
Roberto Clemente Carries A Message To Children'.
http://articles.philly.com/1997-09-16/news/25550963_1_statue-monumentchildren.
Strauss, J. 'Pujols signs with Angels: 10 years, $254 million'.
http://www.stltoday.com/sports/baseball/professional/pujols-signs-withangels-years-million/article_9181b070-21ae-11e1-93ef-0019bb30f31a.html.
Stride, C.B., F.E. Thomas and J.P. Wilson. 'The Sporting Statues Project'.
http://www.sportingstatues.com.
Stride, C.B., F.E. Thomas, J.P. Wilson and J. Pahigian. 'Modeling Stadium Statue
Subject Choice in US Baseball and English Soccer'. Journal of Quantitative
Analysis in Sports (2012).
Stride, C.B., J.P. Wilson and F.E. Thomas. 'Honouring Heroes by Branding in
Bronze'. Sport in Society (2013b).
Swaine, R. 'Jackie Robinson'. In The Team That Forever Changed Baseball and
America: The 1947 Brooklyn Dodgers, edited by L. Spatz, M. Bouchard and
L. Levin. Omaha: University of Nebraska Press, 2012.
Thorne, G. 2009. Robinson's role in integration properly noted. USA Today,
http://usatoday30.usatoday.com/sports/baseball/columnist/thorne/2009-04-17thorn-jackie-robinson_N.htm (accessed 12/10/2012).
Todd, J. 1996. Events planned to honour Robinson in Montreal. Montreal Gazette,
18/4/1996.
Tygiel, J. Baseball's Great Experiment: Jackie Robinson And His Legacy. New York:
Oxford University Press, 1997.
Tygiel, J. Extra Bases: Reflections on Jackie Robinson, Race, and Baseball History.
Omaha: University of Nebraska Press, 2002.
UCLA. 'April 15, 1947 The Name. The Legend. The Man.'.
http://alumni.ucla.edu/share/ucla-history/tmih-apr-robinson.aspx.
UCLA. 'When baseball wouldn't let him in, he refused to be out.'.
http://www.ucla.edu/optimists/robinson.
Unattributed. 1989. Funding for Jackie Robinson statue nears goal. The News Journal,
2/11/1989.
Veeck, W. and E. Linn. Veeck - As In Wreck: The Autobiography of Bill Veeck.
Chicago, IL: University of Chicago Press, 2001.
Wang, J. 'UCLA unveils Jackie Robinson mural'.
http://www.insidesocal.com/ucla/2013/04/14/ucla-baseball-stadium-unveilsjackie-robinson-mural/.
42
PDF created with pdfFactory Pro trial version www.pdffactory.com
Wann, D.L. and N.R. Branscombe. 'Die-Hard and Fair-Weather Fans: Effects of
Identification on BIRGing and CORFing Tendencies'. Journal of Sport and
Social Issues 14 (1990): 103-17.
Wilder, C.S. A Covenant with Color: Race and Social Power in Brooklyn. New York:
Columbia University Press, 2000.
Williams, D.W. The Road to Now: A History of African-Americans in Montreal.
Montreal: Vehicule Press, 1998.
Williams, D.W. 1999. The Jackie Robinson Myth: Social Mobility and Race in
Montreal. 1920-1960. MA, Concordia.
Wirt, J. 1990. Montreal sculptor says he improved on his original Jackie Robinson
statue. The News Journal, 15/9/1990.
Wood, J. and N. Gabie. 'The Football Ground and Visual Culture: Recapturing Place,
Memory and Meaning at Ayresome Park'. The International Journal of the
History of Sport 28 (2011).
Wright, T.L. 'Jackie Robinson kin fights for his legacy'. http://jacksonville.com/tuonline/stories/072902/met_10035916.html
43
PDF created with pdfFactory Pro trial version www.pdffactory.com